Choose a caliber that you shoot and handle well for deer and it begins with cartridges like the 243 Winchester, 7mm-08 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Winchester, 308 Winchester.  The .223 with heavier than 55 grains will work but I prefer the .243 as a starter caliber. The most popular today is the 6.5 Creedmoor and very similar to the .270. A favorite of mine is the 6.5 as it has moderate recoil and can kill deer size game out way past 400 yards.

If you are a seasoned hunter, then you know, all of these cartridges will work fine. And all will work on many African Plains Game species too, though the 243 is perhaps a bit light.

However, if you are strictly hunting here in the Northeast then you can include the venerable 30-30 Winchester and 35 Remington lever guns which are good for brush type environments like mixed hard and soft woods to 150 yards, have moderate recoil and with a flat nose, pack a real punch.  Or step up to the 30-06 Springfield which is the same caliber as the .308, just faster and more recoil.

After that we get into magnum like cartridges that have more energy delivered and more recoil. Many hunters add newer recoil reducing pad such as the Pachmayr Decelerator or SIMS SVL Pad, which reduces felt recoil up to 50%. A real smart thing to do!

Short range big bore brush rifles like the 444, 450 and 45-70 are great but pack more recoil. Change the recoil pad.

Bullets and Ballistic Gel Tests

Now choose the bullet. Ballistic Gel Tests are a help in evaluating  mushrooming and penetration. I  have included some below. 

Federal is one of those cartridge companies that use bullets from many manufacturers.

Bullets are the part that does the killing, thus you want good bullet construction. One of the mainstays of deer hunters has been the Remington Core Lokt bullet  since 1939 but there are dozens more. See the ballistic gel test below. part 1 and part 2.

The best bullets today are bonded bullets, where the lead is bonded to copper and mushrooms well.  And also monolithic copper which often flares into propeller like petals and maintains nearly 100% of its weight. Newer copper bullet designs are coming out every year.

My favorite bonded bullet is the Nosler AccuBond. See ballistic gel test below.

https://www.nosler.com/products/bullets/product-line/accubond.html

Here is the AccuBond Ballistic Gel test below.

Below is the Nosler Expansion Tip (E-Tip) Gilding Copper Monolithic Ballistic Gel Test.

and Hornady GMX gilding copper monolithic very similar to the E-Tip

A new one, I hope to test is the Hammer Hunter an all copper monolithic hollow point which at high speed creates petals that separate into four 25 cal bullets  and still has its parent bullet hammering even more penetration.

Swift Scirocco II monolithic copper bullet ballistic gel test below.

There is some movement in the hunting bullet industry toward monolithic bullets which often maintain much of the original weight, flare well, and drop game fast.

If you go onto the net and to YouTube you can see more gel tests too.

Today my own main go-to bullets are Nosler AccuBonds and E-tips. They shine for accuracy and have great weight retention and punch!

Good Hunting!