25-06 - fast and flat shooting and easy on the shoulder. Only downside is it's speed if you need to shoot at closer range. I looked closely at a sauer 202 takedown in this calibre, but the chap was selling it as he was finding he was getting too much blow-up on roe at 50-60 yds - no issues at all out at 150 yds. Since much of my stalking is also close range, and not that much different to 243 IMHO I passed and went for a bigger calibre.
Don't discount the 243 - with good bullets it is fine for all deer in the uk provided you do your bit,but accept that for big stags it is on the marginal side, but the right side of that margin. And a very good fox calibre, ammo everywhere and FLO likes them.