This exact same thing happened to me yesterday morning. Unbelievable. I never miss!

Uh, he was waiting for the deer to give him a shot, therefore he was ready to shoot.

What's wrong with looking at deer through a scope? Especially with ARs, it seems advisable. And don't tell me to use binocs. That's just another thing to carry and bang around making noise. Plus, they fog up.

even look up under any brush or cedar trees ... I have had them crawl to the base of a cedar tree and be completely hidden.

That 300win has a bad habit of the flinch factor

Goodluck hope you get him!

Not directed at the OP.

I've heard the concept of "lost him in the cross hairs" mentioned in the past where, in all the excitement, a hunter simply forgets to note the position of the cross hairs when squeezing the trigger. Let's face it, Buck Fever can make a hunter do some crazy things. For example, heard of a guy once who got it and cycled all the shells from his rifle before ever firing a shot.

Misses happen, fact of life. If you've never missed, then you've either never shot at a whole lot or never shot at anything really, really bigger than what you've previously shot at. Rack up the years and shots and you will miss, just like taxes and death, "inevitable"...Shake it off and get back at it.

Navasot...my .300 used to be the same way as far as "flinch factor". I put a Sims recoil pad on it, and now I have a pre '64 .243 that kicks harder than my .300!!

Shot a doe at 125 yards with 300 win mag 165 gr she went off about 60 yards found very little blood maybe size of a quarter. Looked for 1.5 hours and found her crawled up next to a brush pile where she died. Shot placement destory her shoulder and not a very big exit

Redchevy made a good point, in that after walking 200 yards you might not be right where the buck was standing. I've taken to using the rangefinder AFTER the shot. Range to the impact spot, then take the walk and range backwards to be sure you are in the right spot. I have looked in the wrong place many times.