When I was looking for a good hunting rifle 21 years ago, my dad told me that since I was only looking to get one gun at the time, the best "all around" big game cartridge was the .30-06 (very versatile). I've used it on all sorts of big game across the country and haven't been disappointed once. Of course, I've picked up a few different caliber big game rifles over the years but I still use that same old Ruger M77 left-handed bolt in .30-06 as my primary "gun of choice".