jeannie29 - What is the best deer gun available?
Jeannie, we all have our favorites and for valid reasons, for us. Our choices often don't fit what someone else would like best.
Let me guess; you don't have a lot of experience with either hunting or rifles? If so, getting a long barreled rifle with a long range cartridge will be a handicap, not an asset. If we eliminate long range then we can easily eliminate bolt actions. That leaves us (you) with either an auto loader or a lever. Autos are fine but can be hard to live with, so I think you would be best served with a lever. That means a Marlin in either .30-30 or .35 Remington, at least unless you buy a used Winchester which I would not suggest for a newbie. Either of those cartridges will serve you fine out to at least 150-200 yards. That's a long way to shoot, especially in Alabama wood country.
The old lever rifles are made much like a shootgun, meaning they are stocked for easy and fast shooting moving targets. Woods deer do tend to move quickly!
I have several bolt action, long range deer rifles but my choice for the woods and across many small bean fields is a Marlin 336 in .35. I love it, deer hate it, but never for long!
I have a good quality low power scope mounted low over the action, not in those god-awful "see-though' mounts.
Maybe you should ask a few of your local hunters what they think about the Marlins too.