Well, yes one would think that a hunter should be able to drop a deer at that distance, but we really will never know the whole story here. Maybe it was a young inexperienced hunter who had never had a buck like that in front of him? Have we never heard of buck fever? I think even more experienced hunters still get a little of that when a nice buck shows up. Maybe the guys gun sights somehow got knocked off zero? Lots of things that could go wrong while hunting. Plus, why do most of us who hunt with repeating rifles load all the rounds it could take? I don't think any of us would stop shooting at a buck like that if he remained still and we missed with the first two shots, but had 2 or 3 rounds left in the rifle.