[BuckoFama]

SO - You don't mention what sort of deer, and what sort of distance, but I'd guess that you're looking at Whitetail at distances from zero to 200 yards.
With Whitetail, you have a heart/lung target around the size of a football or so.

I had the Ruger American in 308. The 30-06 will NOT have EXACTLY the same ballistics, but it is pretty close. The 30-06 Ruger American, with almost any ammo, will be good for 4" groups or better at 200 yards.
Some ammo will be better than other ammo, but most factory ammo will be very good for NC Whitetail deer. You can probably pick almost any ammo off the shelf and hit a target the size of a baseball from 100 yards, you could probably put 2 of 3 shots in a golf ball if you do your part.
If you zero at 200 yards, you will be within 2" of zero, in elevation/bullet drop, from up close, all the way out to 225yds.

If you are new to rifles, in general, I'd recommend going with a "lower recoil" 30-06 factory load - maybe someting like the Hornady custom lite 125 grain SST.

If you are NOT new to rifles, and you are ok with recoil, I think you will be fine almost any 150 grain 30-06 ammo. The ones that I'd look at for what you want are the Federal Fusion 150 grain, Remington 150 grain soft point core-lokt 150 grain, Winchester SuperX Power-point 150 grain, or the Federal Power-shok, 150 grain. If it was me, I'd probably just pick whatever is cheapest.
If I was planning in advance, I'd get one or two boxes of each, and try to figure out which one is most accurate for the rifle. Then I'd watch for sales and I'd stock up on whichever one shoots best.

Federal Fusion seemed good with my Ruger American, but I only punched paper with it, not venison, and yours might be better with something else.

Thanks for the reply. I will grab a couple boxes of 150 grain and see what brand it shoots best. You are correct I will be shooting NC white tail deer around 300 yds at most.

 

[BuckoFama]

I can't give experience in particular with that gun, but since you are looking for something dual purpose and may be using it for drives, I would consider a compact short action in 308 American. Probably a little more handy and will still take you out to 300 just fine for whitetail with the 18" barrel in 308.

Most dog hunters use shotguns for running deer, instead of trying to have a dual purpose still hunting and running rifle.

That's a good idea with the 16" barrel and I am a lot more familiar with the .308 but I can't explain to my wife why I traded the rifle she bought me before deer season ever got here for a .308 lol. I would rather use a shotgun when running the dogs but out east in Jones county you rarely get to take a shot much less than 100 yds.