I know Im way behind on this thread, but if anyone cares, heres my take....
I have a 25-06 and a 300 Win. Both are very good deer rifles. I struggled a bit with the 25-06 as far as performance of a deer bullet, I wont get into that, but when I went back to the KISS theory, its fantastic. For a light kicker, its one heck of a deer cartridge.
My old 300 Win has laid down a train car load of deer since I got it 20 yrs ago or so. Its a Ruger M77, the old style with the tang safety, wood stock. I have no idea how to count how many I have killed with it. Long shots, chip shots, bean fields or heavy brush, it will perform. I just feed it 150gr Core Lokts and let her eat. Unless you hit a bone, not much meat damage, kills em dead. I love it. All of it but the recoil. Now, I dont notice it in hunting situations, but 10 rounds off a bench is the most I have ever shot it at one time, and I was done. Glad it was sighted. Thats part of the reason I got the 25-06. The 300 comes out of the safe, gets fired 2-3 times to check the zero, does its job on whatever game Im after for a couple days to a couple weeks, gets cleaned and goes back in the safe til next year. Shes a workhorse for sure.
Kinda like your thinkin Fabs. But if we go on the big buck hunt together, I may pack the old 300 along. I know whatever I want to shoot, no matter the distance, is most likely dead with it. I havent quite got that confidence with the 25 yet. Maybe soon, but not yet.
I got two safes in my room filled with rifles, growing every year. When I first got married, I had this 300 Win, a Marlin Semi-Auto 22lr and a Mossberg 500A 12ga 3". Im not too sure Im any better off now, as far as hunting goes, than I was when I got married.
JMHO
Andy