Got my first deer, a couple of decades ago, with a Model 94 30-30. Loved that rifle. Wish I still had it.
I'll never give mine up. I have a Winchester 70 Featherweight in 30-06 (pre 64 style extractor) with a B&L 3x9 scope which is plenty accurate but almost unnecessary around these parts so I usually just tote the '94 with iron sights. Over the last hundred years the woods have grown back so thickly and the deer have become so abundant that there's little opportunity or need for that matter to shoot anything more than 50 yards away anyway.
Last season I just used a Browning bow.
I might just use a ball peen hammer this year. Just walk up to the and clock them on the head around my gardens - the population has gotten that out of control.