Where do you live??? This will help us tell how long the shots will be and how large the deer are...Are there bears in the area??? Do you know what type hunting you will be doing, a long heavy rifle is a pain if you are carring all day, but it helps if its a little heavy for longer shots and if its on your lap all day weight doesn't matter as much...Do you think you might hunt bigger game or will you use the offseason to shoot varmits as well....

All that being said and considered, a good bolt action with a 22 or 24 inch barrel with a good 3x9x40 scope can be used most anywhere in the following popular cartridges....243...7mm-08...308 (all short actions)
25-06...270...30-06 (all long actions)...

i would suggest a 30-06 or a .308 or a 30-30 those are my 3 favorite rifels

Sounds like an odd six to me. Ammo is cheap and available anywhere in all different types, OODLES of knockdown power, and can be as accurate as any gun out there. I shoot a Tikka T3 Lite and I would suggest it to anyone, it is a little more expensive but not too bad. Maybe check out the gun forum to get some more thoughts on different rifles.

Cal. is not as important as finding the gun that you are most comfortable with. All cal.'s that have been listed will work find with deer and are not that expensive to shoot. Also decide on the action that you would like to use (lever, bolt action, pump, break, semi-auto This factor will also effect the type of cal. which you buy.