Here in Maine, we had a rule of thumb for deer cartridges. For bolt actions, the .270 Win and .30-06 were kings. The .308 Win was the cartridge of choice for semi-autos and pumps because it was shorter and fed better. After all the .308 was designed for the M-14 and works quite well in semi-autos and full-autos.
The .270 Win was the longer-range rifleman's cartridge, since it had a flatter trajectory and maintained it's energy for greater distances than many other non-magnum cartridges. It can be handloaded to near 7mm Mag ballistics, without the need for a belt.
I switched from the .30-06 to the .270 because we have a great deer stand that allows shots to almost 500 yards and I've shot deer to about 450. We limit shots for most newer hunters to 200 yards and for relatively good shots to 300, and encourage accurate shooting at, or just behind the shoulder in the heart-lung kill zone.