I have only shot one deer with my 6.5 creedmoor and it seemed to do just fine. My little brother just got his boy a 6.5 creedmoor this year and his boy got one, and he got 3. only one ran more than 20 feet and there was plenty of blood trail the 25 yards that it went. All of them were shot with the 143 ELD-X and the recoil is pretty light.

Personally, if she is shooting out of a stand most of the time, then I would go with a heavy sporter barrel in a 6.5 creedmoor and live with the extra pound of weight. The extra weight will reduce the felt recoil and increase the number of consecutive rounds before the heat starts throwing shots. IMO, it is a win-win.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a very nice deer round.