Even as recently as the 1970's in our area, most of the deer and farm/ranch rifles were lever actions. The Winchester 88 was highly thought of because of the power/range of the cartridges it chambered and several farmers that I knew owned Savage 99's in .308 and the Brownings were very popular, especially in .243. My first ranch rifle was a Model 94 in 30-30 because its what everyone thought I should have. I bought the rifle brand new for $114. The semi-autos like the Ruger Ranch Rifle and surplus AKs have stolen much of the lever actions thunder as "truck guns" for coyote control. But as deer numbers continued to grow and the popularity of deer hunting has overwhelmed all other shooting sports here the bolt action has become the most popular. I doubt very seriously that a good lever action is in any way a poor choice for whitetail hunting here but media advertising campaigns have created a desire for longer range bolt rifles. Younger hunters are buying bolt rifles because "if you don't want a .30-30 you get a bolt action rifle." The main exception is the .45-70 Marlin Guide Guns which are still sought after by younger deer hunters.