Bronko,

We've all been there at one time or another. Four years ago, I missed the same doe 3 TIMES during the early ML season with my .54 Renegade. My wife and I took the ATV over into the woods for an afternoon hunt. We usually only take it part way up the hill and park it then walk the remaining distance to our stands. When we stopped I said "you hop off and take my rifle so I can get this parked". She walked to a nearby small tree and leaned my loaded but unprimed rifle against it.
I parked the ATV and got off, walked to where she had put it and just before I got there, it slid away from the tree trunk and fell over. I was a little PO'd, but I fought back the urge to start beeatching at her. I inspected the rifle and it was unscathed, not a scratch, ding, dent, nothing. I figured that was fine but in the back of my mind I kept thinking, "I hope the sights didn't get bumped". When I got to where I decided to hunt, I picked a nice spot to sit with my back against a big oak that offered me a good view of the area below me.
What little breeze we had was in my favor and a little over an hour passed when a big doe sauntered my way and stopped broadside at about 45-50 yds. down hill. I rested the rifle on my knee, eased back the hammer and squeezed off the shot. BOOM! The smoke cleared and there she stood, looking around as if wondering where the noise came from. She walked about 20 yds. and stopped, still standing broadside and started feeding. I managed to get the gun reloaded from a sitting position without her seeing me (try that sometime) and now she's about 60 yds. or so out from me but still wide open.
I repeated everything the same as my first shot, including the miss! Well, now she gets nerved and trots about 15 yds., stopping with her head behind a big hemlock. I got up as quietly as I could all the while keeping an eye on her and managed to reload again. Her body was still wide open so I leaned against the oak to steady the shot and ...you guessed it, MISSED AGAIN! This time she broke and ran for the next county.
When I shot the rifle the next morning it was hitting about a foot low and several inches off center. At least all three misses were clean misses, I never found a speck of blood or hair.

BPS