When I started hunting back in the 70s I took all of my game in to a local processor. The ground meat was okay but I wouldn't call it great. Venison burger would leave a chalking residue in the skillet, and you didn't want to ever bite into a cold deer burger ! Some years passed before I had a...
If you are looking for one rifle to hunt anything out west I would recommend a 7mm magnum (284) caliber. The 7mm family offers a great combination of velocity and energy and high BC bullets. Unless you reload, I would not recommend the 6.8 Western. There are too many other calibers out there...