I can only use straight walled cartridges to hunt deer
Legal deer hunting rifles are chambered for the following calibers: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55, .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson, .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, .50-110 and .500 Smith & Wesson.
.41 Long Colt???
"In other rule changes, any straight-walled cartridge rifle with a minimum caliber of .357 to a maximum caliber of .50 is now allowed for hunting deer in Ohio."
So, if you want a fun lever action in a non-punishing cartridge for deer it sounds like to me you will have to fork up quite a bit.
OR, you can load the .45-70 down to say 300 grain bullet at 1200 fps (won't kick bad at all.)
So maybe reloading your own ammo is the solution.
Deaf