saw a herd of deer, missed, had a question

[doubletrouble]

SLOWED

UNEDITED

I saw this herd while hunting about 2 weeks ago, on the opening weekend of general deer here in Oregon; up near big lake, behind hoodoo.
Its probably my 5th time deer hunting and the 1st time I've actually seen deer while out! it was really cool, I always figured my first encounter would be a single deer, not a whole herd!
if you watched the video you saw it's short (even with it being slowed), I had to quickly put my phone away to pick up my rifle (.30-06)
I watched through my scope for the bucks, 1st shot, click (safety was on) but saw three more bucks pass by and took my shots but I must have missed
Of course I had to confirm my miss and so I trekked down that slope through the bush.
however it was really hard to find where they were exactly
I looked for signs/tracks and though I found some it really didn't look like a herds worth of tracks, nor was there a lot of scat.
Are there any suggestions you guys can give me, if this situation happens again how to find their trail? Afterwards I thought maybe I could shoot a tree, creating a marker so that when trekking downwards I could find where they were.
I suppose NOT missing would have helped but that's just something I need to work on.

 

[Native Hunter]

If you missed 4 deer in a row, you need to be working on shooting before you go hunting again.

 

[doubletrouble]

well sure
i was at the range all week prior to that
hitting at 100 yards just fine
it might have been more of the fact of how high I was compared to them, which isn't so easy to simulate at the range

 

[catscratch]

Did you wait until the deer were standing still, or take shots on the move? Lots of woods and stuff to shoot through, looks like a tough shot to me.

 

[doubletrouble]

Did you wait until the deer were standing still, or take shots on the move? Lots of woods and stuff to shoot through, looks like a tough shot to me.

no they never stopped, had to take the shoot as they were on the move

 

[Drycreek]

no they never stopped, had to take the shoot as they were on the move

IMO, that was your mistake. The only time I’ll shoot at a moving target is when I’m shooting at a hog or a coyote. I have a lot more respect for a game animal. Not trying to scold you, but a sure killing shot should be everyone’s goal. Sometimes stuff happens, but as hunters, we don’t need to help it happen. A good rest, a steady hand, and an accurate rifle that shoots where you aim it, that’s what we should be striving for.

I don’t mean to come off as bossy, I made some mistakes when I was younger but I learned the patience to wait until I had a good shot.

 

[George]

I can't say that I never missed a deer before and it takes me about 8 hours of investigation to deduce that in in fact did miss. Taking multiple shots at multiple deer not having any clue is just plain wrong. My suggestion, besides Native's suggestion, would be start at ground zero with a hunter safety course.

G

 

[OkieKubota]

Generally we don’t allow a YouTube video on a new account first rattle out of the box but I watched and it looks like you are just trying to show what happened on your hunt in an abbreviated manner. Hang around and listen to these guys, wait on the deer to stop, take your time getting on them and squeeze. Always make sure of exactly what you are shooting at and what the background is. Every shot I send down range if I suspect a clean miss still gets a thorough grid search.

 

[Deadeye]

Downward Angle can and does have an effect on where your shot hits. So does distance.

Dead On at 100 Hundred Yards with a 30.06 is about 2 inches LOW at 200.

300 you have dropped about another 5-7 inches. Easy.

Hard to tell just how far those Deer were, but they were moving pretty fast and not much of a clear shot for that Range- In My Opinion.

Close Distance and you can get into an opening and shoot when the Deer enters your Scope, but a Fast Trotting Deer is a Tough Target to Hit at any range or distance.

 

[Gravel Road]

If you are new to hunting please don't shoot at running deer. Very low probability of a clean shot even if you are experienced. Lastly, you could have wounded or killed 3 or more deer. considering they were running in a group. It's not easy to find where the deer was when shot. You need to quickly identify a nearby landmark and don't take your eyes off it. Even then, it's difficult to find the exact spot. With a poor shot a deer may not even start bleeding right away or only an occasional drop. Nearly impossible to find in the terrain you are hunting in. Keep practicing and good luck in the future.

 

[9x56MS]

Two suggestions, more practice with your rifle, get closer. Actually 3 get a primos trigger stick rifle rest.