Thanks for posting that Derek45.

The 30-06 produces a much larger wound than the 5.56.  (see home.snafu.de/l.moeller/military_bullet_wound_patterns.html for a depiction of a 5.56 wound).  The permanent cavity is 5 inches wide (versus 2-3 inches for 5.56) and penetrates 17 inches (14 for 5.56).  Still, the 5.56 does pretty good and the 30-06 is blatant overkill.  Given that the 30-06 has more than double the recoil, which is going to effect accuracy and reduce the rate of controlled fire, and the ammo weighs twice as much, there are some definate tradeoffs with the bigger round.

To me, this makes it obvious why the 30-06 is a better hunting round.  You are shooting at one target, possible at longer ranges, and if you hit the target it will die.  You do not want your target to become disabled and run away, which is actually an OK result if you were shooting at a bad guy.  One shot is all you need, and that is good because recoil consideration are going to interfere with your ability to get off other shots.  You are not going to have to fight off multiple deer.  That is probably also why 308 is so popular as a sniper weapon.  But if you are facing multiple targets at short to medium ranges, and you want to get off accurate but rapid fire, I think you might be better off with the 5.56.