It boils down to where you shoot them and the bullet construction as to how much meat damage you will get.Don’t you get a lot of meat damage using 30-06 on whitetail?
My hunting buddy has shot them with 30-30, .243, .308, 30-06 and 5.56.
His comments on those were can you find a different bullet for the 5.56 besides that 55gr V max for deer as it ruins a lot of meat.
His comment was you shoot them with this 30-06 and you know if you hit them because they are on the ground.
Now I have shot whitetail with many more calibers and can say it is where you shoot them and bullet construction.
Hit one in the shoulder bone and you will likely take out both shoulders on a 90 lb. deer.
Hit them in the crease behind the shoulder No bone and expect the heart to be missing.
Double lung one and you mess up a couple ribs.
Neck shoot one and expect that meat and surrounding 4" from where the bullet entered to be trash.
Most meat damage I ever had was with .308 20.5" barrel through the shoulders with 178 A-Max.
Both shoulders junk.