I have, and enjoy a .300RUM.
However, there is a lot of wisdom in most of the previous postings.
I would for your purposes, make a round of most of the pawn shops and used gun racks at gun shops NOW and find yourself a good used .300winmag. Prices are low right now in off season. I saw a used "store branded" Husquevarna in .300winmag yesterday for $275.00 and had an older Redfield scope on it. Get the idea ??!!
Don't get me wrong, I have, and killed my first deer with a .30/06 a LONG time ago. I also have a .338/06 which WILL go to Alaska with me when I do finally make the trek. Also many other cartridges in the rifle inventory. But after many years as a Game Warden, I think your best choice for stated purpose is the .300winmag. Recoil is tolerable, ammo available, and unquestioned effectiveness.
I like the .300RUM, but, the recoil is excessive for what it offers, ammo MUCH more expensive, and much HARDER to find.
I found my rifle at a pawn shop for ~$200, mainly because the ammo is very expensive. The rifle is a Savage M110. After some trigger tweaking, and free floating the barrel, it's a decent shooter delivering 1.25"groups at 100yds with ammo it likes. (I also installed a "Kickeeze" pad for obvious reasons) My prefered load is the main reason I grabbed up the rifle- I wanted something to utilize some of the very cheap .50BMG surplus powders that are still available. I bought 16lbs of WC-860 (Widner's Shooters Supply) for $50! I'm using a quantity of Remington 180gr CorLokts I got for under $10/100. Cost of ammo is less than loading for a .308win. My load is 105.0gr WC-860 for accuracy (moa) and duplicates factory published ballistics. Max is 107.0gr for 3,350fps mv. Believe it or not, the CorLokt is more accurate than either the 180gr Nosler Part., 180gr Sierra BTSP, or the Nosler 180g Ballistic tip. On the single deer I've shot with it, the CorLokt didn't show any propensity to blow up, but an example of one dosen't mean much. Shot was intentionally a raking torso shot, on purpose to see if bullet would "blow apart", (deer was walking away, at 40yds, and mv. of 3,350fps I felt was a good "test" of the bulllet!, exit wound was ~3", and deer was DRT, even though only a single rib was hit on entry, and another on exit. There is something to the "shock" potential of this cartridge. (Note: recoil is about like a 3.5" 12ga magnum turkey load in a Remington M870 pump. Not "lethal", but very substantial)
However, the rubber cushioned objective of my scope took the hide off the bridge of my nose, the rifle thereby drawing blood on both ends!!!! Hence, I've not been readily inclined to hunt with it again on something like "mere little deer"!
My thoughts are that a good used .300winmag will be your best bet. You get the lighter recoil, equivalent to a really light .30/06 mountain rifle (ie:Remington M700 mountain rifle, or Ti model), much more readily available ammo (if you don't reload), in a greater choice of loadings. Power is adequate for any intended use in N. America.
My older brother spent a number of years stationed at Elmendorf AFB in late '70's and early '80's. His son is now stationed in Ft. Greely. Both agree that the .30/06 is still the gold standard with the "residents", and the Nosler 180gr Partition the bullet of choice for inland hunting. For Coastal bears, the 200gr Partition or a Barnes-X might be a little better choice. While my brother was in AK, he observed that most Residents used .308's or .30/06, the Indians used .303brit, .30Krag's, .300Savage, or .30/30's. Non-Residents used "Magnums" as he put it. He used the .30/06 with 180gr Partitons (factory loads because all his reloading equipment was in storage in lower 48) with total satisfaction.
