RE: which gun? 30-06 or .300 magnum
No animal on the american continents requires more than a .30-06. With the .300 mag, if I remember right, you get about the same case length, just fatter right? You're shooting 180-225 gr bullets while a .30-06 is shooting 150-180 gr at roughly the same velocity. You can handload 225 .30-06 to match the .300 mag, but it'll kick your arm off, about the same as the .300 mag. I'd never hunt anything bigger than a coyote on my continent with any rifle but a .30-06, lots of people use the .300 mag, or .300wsm or .300, but you don't need to, as far as I'm concerned, the .30-06 is the perfect rifle, if you can find a good solid barrel that shoots great, you can push your bullets as heavy and fast as the .300 mag, but you don't need to do that either, 180 gr in .30-06 can take anything you can ask it to.