Thanks for all the advice. I'm comfortable with the back country hiking part, but I've got a lot of learning to do when it comes to stalking, glassing, and field dressing an animal. Other than to continue studying and reading my next step is to select a hunting rifle and begin practice. I've put a lot of 223/5.56 on steel targets at 50 yards, but I have zero experience with a bolt gun at 100,300, or greater distances. I'm looking at a Tikka T3x chambered in 300 win mag, left hand version. From all the studying I've done it seemed to be the best "value" gun that can reasonably shoot sub moa out of the box. The thing that stinks for me is scouting land before I go hunting, its a 14 hour drive to the places I want to hunt. I guess I need to plan and scout different game closer to home to get some practice. Smaller game would really need a smaller gun though....
I'm not trying to pry into your personal life, but what area of the US are in and what game are you intending to hunt? The answer to those questions will play a huge role in what type of rifle and caliber you should be looking for.
Steve Rinella's big game book actually has a decent introduction to rifle and caliber selection, in case you haven't already read it. 300 Win Mag is a well-known and proven cartridge for big game, thought it's really only necessary for the bigger side of big game (Moose, Bear). It also has significant recoil, which if you're not comfortable with can cause you to jerk your shots. 7mm Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag, .308 Win, 30-06, .270 are well known big game cartridges. Some of these may make more sense for your needs than others, again depending on where and what you want to hunt.
I also wouldn't fret too much about getting sub-MOA performance out of your hunting rifle. It's possible to get that kind of performance out of a hunting rifle, but it's not really necessary unless you are talking about extra long range hunting (600-700 yards and beyond). For most realistic shots, a rifle that is consistently shooting 1-2 MOA at 100 yards is more than sufficient. I would focus more on getting a decent rifle (Tika's, Savage Model 11's, Remington 700's are all good options) and getting a decent scope that can maintain a zero (I can vouch for Vortex's offerings, but there are others). Then practice and get to know the in's and out's of your setup.
Also your .223 rifle would be ideal for hunting mid-sized game (coyotes, fox) if you are looking to get some experience prior to the next big-game season starting up. That would give you an opportunity to not only get some experience with scouting and picking your spots, but also with field dressing and fur management (if that is something that interests you).