PCP to hunt deer

.308? not a fan of hunting with less than over kill options

well in Michigan it's .35 cal. or bigger and is what I would call the minimum. the crossmen bulldog, airforce Texan in .45 is also a good choice. that's just a few, as far as bullets what ever shoots best, just going to have to try a few and see what your gun likes.
Joel

markT what is your price range? How do you charge your PCPs?

Does the state you'll be hunting in have minimum caliber restrictions? That will inform where your selection starts.

I'm a big fan of .30 and .357 myself and I wouldn't hesitate to use either on whitetails out to 50 yards. Whitetails have thin skin and muscle. If you can poke a .30/.357 hole thru both lungs, you'll have a quickly dead deer. Think shooting one with an arrow, but a bit cleaner in some respects. Which deer in the southeast are often 50lbs or more lighter than midwest and northern deer, so what would work in my neck of the woods might or might not work elsewhere.

My brother has a .45 Texan and it is an impressive gun. An aftermarket shroud is a must, and the gun is long (but not as unwieldy as I thought it would be). It can make quarter sized groups at 50 yards with the right ammo (it loves Hornady .457 roundballs). We haven't yet found consistent 1MOA ammo at 100 yards, although we've generally only been trying light rounds. My understanding is that the gun's twist rate favors heavy rounds. 

.357 or a .45 will do just fine under 75 yards without overkill. BullDog or Texan come to mind for 1000 and under, my BullDog liked the Nosler 145gr Ballistic tip out to 60 yards but that's all I have tried besides the 81,02 JSB's and I have read the Texan likes the Nielsen 290 grain swaged hollow points out to 100 yards plus. I'm sure there are others out there that I'm not familiar with so I'm sure others will chime in too.

MarkT a Texan sounds like it would work well for you. I have mine set up to deer hunt so I zeroed it at 50 yards. When shot at 25 yards with this zero the bullet holes are touching in the bullseye and you have about a 1.5” drop from zero at 75 yards, which is perfect for deer hunting in the tight woods of the Deep South. 

I’m currently shooting a 290g Nielsen hollow pt. in my Texan and I have found a .457 diameter bullet works best no matter the brand. Hunter Supply also carries some good bullets for the Texan. A scuba tank will work fine because a Texan shoots best at a sub 3000 psi fill due to its valve. This is a large AG and is not as handy in a tree stand as a Bulldog, but produces 60% more energy. PM me if this is the route you decide to go and I will tell you how to determine your initial fill pressure with the Texan for best accuracy. Good luck with your endeavor.

I used a tuned Sam Yang .45 to kill over 20 deer without a single lost animal. Except for one shot all shots were 50 yds and under, the exception was 75 yds lasered before the shot.. As mentioned above double lung shot is preferred. Count on scanty blood trail. I use 155 to 200 gr bullets and get pass throughs. The SY fills to 3000 psi so scuba can do it. It also has a low power cocking notch which operates at 2400 psi and after tuning can still get lower 800's fps with 155 gr slugs. 909 is much shorter than a Texan and tuned will push EPPUG slugs to 900 fps.
Will Piatt

Darryl AKA Pepegraves over at GTA have used a Recluse and 45 cal Texan to kill a lot of deer. But last year he started using a 25 cal Sumatra with polymags and headshots because he was getting shots at 65 yards and closer. He said not one deer have made a step after the shot; all have dropped in place. He said he have to trail the deer he did H/L shots on and lost at least one.

Loud? I have a 9 mm Freedom 202, with a decent suppressor, and it is still as loud as my 9 mm handgun. Without the suppressor, it sounds like a 50 BMG, which is why I don't shoot it much.

It does generate about 160 FPE, and I've harvested a few pigs with it, mainly because I don't care what happens to them after the shot. They are varmints after all. But I'd never use it on a big game animal. 

I would think airguns lack the power to put a deer straight down and probably will not leave much of a blood trail. Tracking skills will be important.

I prefer headshots only. They drop in place feet up in air. This year in my state VA, they have now instituted a min .357 for airguns. I previously preferred using my .30 Bobcat due to its surgical placement of pellets. Works exceedingly well on hogs also with headshots. The furthest a deer has moved after a well placed headshot has been about 10 feet, mostly because it rolled downhill after I shot it.

This year due to the change in laws, I purchased a RAW HM1000x .357. Still plan on headshots only.

Scrane, 
​Many of the big bore air rifles have plenty of power to take a deer with a heart/lung shot. Most people simply have no respect for what 175+ foot pounds of energy represents. For example, a Benjamin Bulldog will break a brick in half with a single shot (145 grain Nosler Extreme). I learned this the hard way in my backyard shooting range. It was set up with a box with crushed cans, double layer of bricks and a wooden backboard, followed up by a fence. My 40 foot pound air rifles just makes little chips on the surface of the brick, and after a lot of shots (in the same spot), bores a hole through the brick by comparison. With the Nosler, around 200 foot pounds energy, projected penetration in a critter, is around a foot. This level of power is greater than a .22 long rifle (100-120 FPE).
​Like many states which allow air rifles to be used for "big game", Arizona imposes a minimum caliber of .357. Check your local hunting laws to confirm compliance before investing in a Deer air rifle (some states require .45 caliber or larger). 

Here are four good youtube videos of deer hunting with airguns that might be legal in your state.
Warning: May contain graphic images
Pioneer Airbow https://youtu.be/rq_QUUmErm4
Airforce Texan https://youtu.be/0i0LT69NL1Y 
Bull Dog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i85HCdNErs

Another Good Airforce Texan Video  

Airguns kill deer just like arrows do. Piercing their lungs with a big enough hole is all it takes to kill one in about 10-20 seconds. They will never drop where they stand, but neither will they with a bow shot. Pierce the lungs with a hole that can't clot, and they're dead... fast.