cheaper deer round needed... well, this has been pretty well beaten. No. 1 el-cheapo is going to be 7.62x39. I've owned an SKS, liked it. Problem as a hunting arm, for me, is two-fold: first of all no scope, and my eyes are going downhill, esp. at first/last light; second, the trigger sucked on mine.
I've gone through a 270, a 30-06 - neither particularly cheap, thought it's all relative - and for the past few years have hunted with muzzleloader only. But twice this season - TWICE! - I could have used a second shot, so... earlier this week I traded away a little-used old 9mm for a Marlin 336 in 30-30. Pretty, traditional, and oh so handy to carry. Put my 1.5-4x32mm trophy on it, will shoot this morning. boresighted it yesterday, roughly sighted in with five shots... very sweet, mild-shooting rifle. I like it. But ammo is still expensive by SKS/milsurp standards, though slightly less than other centerfire. I think I'm gonna learn to reload.
Back to thread... if you want really cheap, really potent deer hunting round, and you've good young eyes... get a Mosin-Nagant. Dirt-cheap to buy, dirt-cheap to feed, better trigger than SKS, and you can put mojo sights on it - and the cartridge itself is very potent, more than you'll need. I'm gonna get one just for fun, and I might even hunt with it some. Only downer, besides no scope... the safety on it sucks.