#1 hunter,
You sound by your comments that you are perhaps a bit new to handling hunting rifles. If you belong to a range or huntclub, spend a little time asking the members what they like to use. Personnally, I think for the PA woods, as well as my central NY region, a good lever action 30-30 (or as you might guess from my handle the all time deer rifle is the Savage m99 in .300 Savage). It is the Grandpappy of the .308 that you are leaning towards.
Spend some time trying out various guns in the store for the "feel" and after you find the gun that fits right to you, make your decision on the caliber. I still love the light and fast action levers, and you can carry one all day w/o breaking a sweat.
Jim