Yes. You can hunt deer with a .357mag. I have taken deer with a Ruger GP-100 4in. barrel using 158grn. Jacked Soft Points, all shots within 60yds.
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So this may be too far off topic but I would suggest a good 12 ga pump shotgun If your main concern is putting food on the table these are hard to beat Squirrel rabbit birds/waterfowl and deer are all completely realistic options with the right shot/slug
If you are just getting into hunting I would suggest you find people who hunt near you and get local information And possibly someone to teach you about finding where to hunt thru how to process what you killed (and maybe some good recipes)
And as always consult local game and fish to make sure you are legal in whatever you choose to hunt
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Never tried one brother and don’t want to. 
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I would say it depends on your tastes (and how hungry you are). I know people who love Duck but they are too greasy for my tastes (unless I was really hungry).
Don
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Welcome to the family and god bless you brother.
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You may be right (but ill keep mine just the same).
Don
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The list of what you can not eat is much, much smaller then what you can eat. Mostly it’s getting it past your mind. 
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Your getting a little deep there Bruce26.
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There is no big secret in this community and others that I am a 30-06 guy and a Winchester fan. I will give my reasons for both.
30-06:
Unless you are loading 125gr lazers you are looking at north of 5000 rounds of barrel life from “normal ammo”. Mt primary competition tactical gun is in 30-06 and I run 210gr Bergers or 208 Amax’s out of military brass that will net me consistent groups at a MILE. For hunting purposes you get to drive a larger boolit at the same velocities as the 308, 270, 243 etc. A good solid round for deer is the 168gr Ballistic Silver tip via Winchester/Nosler, outstanding boolit performance on target and a fair enough speed to make it point and shoot a good ways beyond most folks capabilities.
Winchester M-70: Paul Mauser got it right with the 1898 Mauser - Lock the firing pin inside the bolt don’t put some stamped piece of metal in the way of the trigger. Whether you want a claw extractor (ie Pre 64 and Classic) or a Controlled Round Push Feed (CRPF) both work well as long as you know the limitations and benifits of each. The recoil lug is INTEGRAL with the receiver unlike say Rem 700 where it is sammiched between the tube and the receiver. You can find Mod 70’s in 30-06 for about $500 on the used market in nice wood from the 1980’s, When Wally World was selling guns you could get a base model BNIB for $650.
Ensure that you get a 10 twisted tube for either 30-06 or 308 in a bolt gun, you can thank me later. The 11.25 twisted tubes were designed for gas operated guns to shoot the 175 SMK AT 2700 - 2750 fps, THAT’s IT. The 12 twisted tubes in most other 308’s are designed for varmint boolits not deer boolits. Savage is the only comercial company I know of thaat produces factory sticks in a 10 twisted tube. I have NOTHING bad to say about a Savage other than I don’t like the Accu-Trigger. Not that it isn’t nice and I can’t learn to use it but I have a but ton of time invested in my right index finger and if it feels something move there is something wrong.
The 30-06 is far from dying and the up shot of it is if you are in BFE Nowhere, the gas station has 30-06 on the shelf.
Cheers,
Craig6
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BRAVO
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Some day I’ll have to tell you the story of my Uncle grabbing the wrong box of reloads when he was going deer hunting with is 30-06 (220 gr moose loads don’t shoot like 150 gr deer loads).
Don
edited to correct a number
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Ok teach me 45IPAC… I’m ready!!
And yes DBrogue you should tell the story…
Craig6 that was a great comment. My head is spinning trying to look stuff up so I could stay with you.
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@Justin47 another unmentioned tid bit is that the 30-06 is so forgiving it will run just about anything it is fed and do it superbly. For a “get you buy” 30-06 look around for a 1903 or 1903-A3 that has been sporterized, stupid strong action, almost always in 1 - 10 twist (even the original bbl’s) and “cock on close”, your 1917’s and Mauser 98’s are generally cock on open which befuddles some. They are also almost never more than $700 unless there is something special about them. That said unless you get an S&K slip on scope mount you will need a gun smith that knows what they are about as the receivers CANNOT be drilled and tapped on a drill press, too hard.
Cheers,
Craig6
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Ok here is the story.
First a little background.
While in the Army I was always one of the top three shooters in every company I was in (I was not infantry) and competed in a few competitions (never won but we were always in the top 3rd of the competing teams).
Almost all of my Dad’s side of the family is/was a much better rifle shot than I am (or ever will be). They all grew up on the farm and shooting was part of life and always a competition of some sort for them. I have seen a couple of my cousins drive 10 penny nails into a fence post with a .22 at 20 yards. Yes they would shoot at wooden match sticks as well (only saw one of them light one once).
Uncle Larry use to go on hunting trips for Mule Deer, Sheep, and Moose. He ALWAYS brought something home.
When deer hunting with Larry, if he shot his 30-06 you waited the appropriate amount of time and then you went to help him field dress and drag the deer out.
Now to the story. (If I was not there I would not believe this story but I swear it is TRUE).
One year, later in the 9 day season we got the family together to do some large deer drives. Larry being the best long range shot of us all was always put in a position to take advantage of his skills.
That morning he over slept (not like him at all) and in a rush (he later discovered) grabbed his moose loads off the shelf thinking it was his normal deer loads.
His moose loads were done by my father because Larry wanted them right to the limit and my dad NEVER took a short cut when reloading anything. Larry also reloaded but trusted my dad more than himself when he wanted a specific round.
So here we are on this deer drive and about half way through we hear Larry shoot three times. We were group hunting so we figured Larry had just filled 3 of our tags (white tail deer hunting was for meat in the freezer not for sport or trophies).
When the drive was finished we all headed over to where Larry was so we could help field dress and drag them to the vehicles. When we got to Larry and asked where they were (he was still in his “spot” for the drive). His answer was “I missed”. We laughed and said ok but you must have hit at least one.
This is when he told us he had taken his moose loads by mistake and the gun was sited for his much lighter deer loads. Moose loads were max powder and a 220 gr jacketed round. Deer rounds were not max powder and a 150 gr round.
So we said we still needed to look for blood to which he responded, “there was no need I missed all three shots” but we insisted and asked where they where when he shot, “they were on a run about 200 to 250 yards away on the other side of the field” (we went to look). On the other side of the open field was a planted pine grove for future timber.
As we are looking for blood at the edge of the grove we came across a small pine about 6 inches in diameter. We could see where a round had hit on the front side and the back looked like it had exploded. Now we understood why Larry said there was no need, he had seen the tree explode when the round hit.
What he had not seen is a piece of that tree hit one of the deer in the neck and it bled out about 15 yards way. We looked and looked and could not find a bullet wound anyplace on that deer. We actually shot the dead deer so it had a bullet hole in it to register it at the DNR station (you did NOT want to be accused of pouching or taking the deer in an illegal manner).
I was 16 or 17 at the time and can still picture the back side of that pine tree.
You can call BS if you want but I was there.
And that my friends is the story.
Don
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Ruger American might be worth a look.
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Love seeing that I am not the only .30-06 fan out there. It has been interesting watching this conversation develop throughout the day. I just grabbed a book out of my library titled “One man, one land, one rifle.” The author, J.Y. Jones, used his Remington 700 ADL in .30-06 to take all species of game animal in North America. And no, this book did not inspire my love for the .30-06. That started probably 20 years before I read the book. The book only confirmed what I had observed using it myself.
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DB I believe every word of your story as I have witnessed more than one killing that a boolit did not do. I also trust a man that says “I missed” much more than the one that looks at the rifle and proclaims “Damn thing lost zero since last year.”
Cheers,
Craig6
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Wow that’s a good story brother, and something that will probably never happen again. 
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I own a Savage Model 10 in .308. Great gun and very accurate. She has never let me down. Previously, I owned a Model 10 in .270. Fantastic deer round that is flat shooting and hard hitting. I am comfortable with 30.06 as well. You can find it and .270 almost anywhere, even today. In truth. I have been able to find .308 deer rounds as well. I guess you can tell I like Savage. They both had detachable box magazines too, which I like.
The 30.06 and .270 are long-action rounds. They are longer overall and very powerful. The .308 is a short-action round but has similar power. To me, the .308 has less felt recoil than the long-action rounds. If you want any of these calibers, you will never have any trouble at all hunting deer. Good luck and have fun sir.
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