I have yet to shoot at a deer with a .454, but over the years I`ve killed several with a .44 mag. and it`s really more than you need. That said I think I will be carring a RSR .454 next year for my walking around gun and a .500 S&W for my sitting gun. I`m going to this combo for flatter shooting and both are scoped. As far as needing so much power it`s really not needed unless your after brown bear and then I would use nothing less than the .500 S&W. I took a deer this year with a .357 max. and it did a fine job.
