Welcome first off!!!
As to the choice in chambering of your rifle, the 7mm rem mag will do nicely. It is my choice for an all arounder cartridge which has harvested moose, elk, deer and antelope in my case with ease. Bullet choice is very good due to the 284's popularity. If you plan to by OTC factory ammo you'll find it almost everywhere, good selection of bullets/styles and not to hard on the pocket book.
As to rifle both Savage and 700's are good choice, it boils down to personal preference and actual fit. The savage has a idiot proof self trigger adjustment in the accutrigger but 700 can be equally touched up by a component firearm owner or cheaply by any gunsmith as well to feel great. No doubt the savage is accurate/solid and of great value. The 700 is still known for strength and is usually pretty OofB accurate. I am not sure what model of savage but to me a blind(internal) box mag is it's only fault, as savage uses this on a number of their rifles. I did notice they do offer some DM's now though. The 700 is available in 2 mag types DM or Hinged floor plate both IMO are better than a internal, so slight edge goes her for me(again that is personal). The one thing I will caution you on in your choices is the muzzlebreak, first off the 7mm rem mag is not mild but is tolerable by most shooters in recoil and most importantly a muzzle break is extremely loud (it should never be fired without hearing protection used unless you don't value your ears!). If recoil presents a problem you can install an aftermarket recoil pad like sims or decelerator that will help emmense in felt recoil. In fact some of the new rifle come with the new SIMs factory installed so you may want to consider this while sorting through the various models as well.
As far as technigue just hang on this board and you'll learn a ton...lots of great/well versed hunters of varying locations and game animals willing to embark their thought/knowledge/experiences.
I disagree about the GPS as well, having used most of them I still find the Garmin product the best for ease of use/features/power consumption...being in the military you are probably more versed on this application then me, so chalk it up to personal difference of opinion.