“deer rifles”

The deer rifle remains the quintessential tool of the American deer hunter. Close your eyes and think about deer hunters and you’ll picture a figure cloaked in camo, with a bright orange hat and a rifle slung over his or her shoulder. Here are five rifles—a few classics, a few destined to be—that will serve their owners well when the time comes to take the venison from the field to the fridge.

There's never a bad time to add a new rifle to your gun case—especially if you're looking for a favorite new meat maker before the 2015 whitetail season kicks into high gear. Here are a few new-for-2015 offerings that deserve some consideration if you're looking to make an addition to the family before your season begins.

These budget-friendly bolt guns offer hunters a lot of rifle for a little money.

Deer rifles and the cartridges loaded in them have run the gamut the last 50 years, from the Winchester 94 in .30-30 Win. to the Weatherby Mark V in .30-378 Wby. Mag. and the DPMS ARL in 6.5 Creedmoor.

Get a closer look at the Bushmaster Minimalist-SD, the latest addition to our #SundayGunday series.

Red dot optics have steadily won over members of the hunting community in recent years, landing atop many a turkey gun and a growing number of deer rifles, among others. News from Trijicon indicates that there'll be another contender in the market very shortly in the form of the company's new Miniature Rifle Optic, or MRO.

Always a leader in generational deer rifles—see the Model 94 lever-action, pre-’64 Model 70 “Rifleman’s Rifle” and the later, push-feed version of the Model 70—Winchester has jumped into the fray with its new XPR.

Remington’s new 360 Buckhammer straight-wall cartridge is optimized for lever-action rifles, deadly and accurate out to 200-plus yards.

That new hunter you've been tutoring may be in love with a lever-action rifle. Alternately, he may think he absolutely needs a .30-caliber magnum to "cover all the bases." But it's up to you to talk him into making a reasonable purchase when it comes to his first big-game rig.