It's probably different for guys who get to hunt the rut, when the bucks are just stupid..
I hunted mulies in MT last year during the 1st part of the rut, shot my buck at 1:00 pm, wide open, nose down training a couple does. First few days we were seeing quite a few, but towards the 2nd half of the hunt when the rut kicked in, holy cow did we see some deer. Now it was also a private ranch with limited pressure, but the difference in just a couple days was startling.
I also agree with your larger caliber premise. Open country, I don't mind double lunging and letting them run a bit. I use a rifle/caliber with "finesse". Heavily wooded, I want 2 large holes and either DRT or a blood trail a blind man can follow. Over-kill be damned, but I don't want excessive impact velocity cause sometimes I've got to take a so-so presentation shot.