It is pretty amazing what air rifles are out there now. :-)
I totally understand! My dad loves his black powder rifle and pistol. I like my Bushmaster Varminter. It's guts are AR-15 so it's easy to care for and it's built for long distance shooting. My current top shot with it on prairie dog os 430 yards. It fires .223 but the muzzle velocity is 3,200 fps.
For deer tho', I'd use the Winchester model 88 .308 lever action.
Bow hunting deer is quite a good skill. I'm not that good with those!