Gun or shooter error
 

I have a cheap savage axis 30-06 I decided to sight in and take out this year , I sighted it at about 35 yards tho , was shooting perfect , where I hunt I didn’t think I’d shoot over 100, wound up having a buck come in a weird spot that was roughly a 125 yard shot and I missed , could it be that since I had a 35 yard zero that I missed because I was shooting out to 125 yards ? I only ever shot the gun at the 35 yards , or was it most likely shooter error ? It was a clean miss I’m not sure high or low tho , only good thing is I wound up having a bigger 8 come by half hour later , 45 yards that I blew right through his heart , just looking for some input thanks guys

Have you shot that rifle with that scope a lot? You sighted in so it should have been dialed for your shot, assuming you adjusted for the extra yardage. Maybe there's some kind of scope error? It can happen.

See if you can duplicate the missed shot at a target at "roughly 125 yards". If your rifle is shooting where you want, then it's likely some degree of shooter error. Breathing, buck fever, field shooting position, etc.

I shot 12 rounds through it befor rifle season , I did not adjust for any extra yardage tho just held zero on the deer ... I’m gonna try to duplicate the shot once the seasons over , even though I was blessed with a bigger one after missing , just kills me that it happend , I’ve seen people say that a 25yard zero will be like a inch high at 100 , wasn’t sure if it was something along those lines of what went wrong

how do you know it was a clean miss?
as if you DON"T know if it hit high or low, you have NO clue where the bullet went correct?
which means it could have HIT the buck/deer in a NON vital area, and NOT all hits leave blood trails easy to see or find!

DID you look for the deer much?

and as stated, a miss can happen with a properly sighted in rifle, just as one not! things happen, and doesn;t take much of a movement to be off on target, as I doubt you were shooting of a bench when you fired at the deer, so that means human error can happen a LOT easier then when off a bench!
so, IF it really was a clean miss(and that normally means you seen where impact was and NO where near the animal, thus knowing 100% that it was a MISS)
then odds are it was human error, as even if bullet impact as to where sighted in,was off an inch up or down or likes, , at that range
a deer if aiming at its vitals, heart lung area, is a much larger area and should have been impacted at some point if your aim was true!

and I am NOT bashing you here either, I am just stating the fact, only way something is a CLEAN miss, is if you KNOW where your bullet landed,
as , others wise, you MAY have hit this deer!
its NOT uncommon for a rifle shot deer to NOT bleed or show signs of a hit for a few hundred yards!
I found many dead deer a few days or weeks later, that , shooters CLAIMED they missed, !
I Also shot and put several wounded one's down wasting my tag along the yrs due to poor hits they happen! (again NOT bashing just saying)

I know it was a clean miss because the deer ran directly to my neighbors stand witch is 200 yards from me and he shot him , even went over and checked the deer, so either I missed and he didn’t or I hit him and he missed and lied , but was only one bullet hole

No matter how you look at it it was shooter error because you never printed the rifle at the yardage you took the shot. Not a bash, just the truth.

well thats good to know, as that clears that part up some what, but doesn't for sure answer your question of if YOU hit it or the other guy did!

it not unknown for a second shooter to claim a deer shot by the first guy!
its been a topic of many forums and magazines, about who's deer is it if shot twice, or once and other gets to it first and NO one can prove THERE BULLET was the one that killed it
as when two folks shoot at same animal, and only 1 hole/bullet in animal, SOMEONE MISSED??
good luck proving who is the hard part!

I think your on the right plan though to shoot the gun after season and see where POA is at, and from there you can GUESS if you missed or second shooter did
but , like OT stated
it is rather foolish to shoot at game at a distance your NOT sure where your bullet will be hitting at!
charts on paper don't always mean CRAP in the real world and this is why, most hunters/shooters always exclaim that before shooting at LIVE animals, KNOW where your bullet will go based on REAL shooting experience of loads/bullets and such! as the time to find out they DON"T isn;t when shooting at live animals in hunting season!
some might even says its unethical to do this?
again, NO bash, just info here!
we all make mistakes and learn some times from doing things wrong or??

and I have made more than my share of mistakes over the yrs, so NOT throwing stones here at all
just hoping from here out you learn to have more rifle time before taking shoots at live animals!

Interesting advice. When I hunted moose we only had a 100 yard range to sight in at. From tables we new drop etc at various yardage. Never was able to sight on paper at 500 yards but we killed several moose at yardages from 300 to 600 yards must have just been lucky.

Sighting it in at 35 yards wouldn't make much of a difference in point of impact at 125. Running a few sample loads through a ballistic calculator, the worst one is only 1.2" off at 125 when sighted at 35. It was almost certainly shooter error.

^^^ What TN Lone Wolf and Timbrhuntr said. Yes, it's nice to shoot at the distances you're going to shoot animals at so you get practice at shooting longer distances. But, a lot of guys don't have access to long distance ranges and instead use some version of sighting their rifle about 2-3" high at 100 yards so they know they're covered for up to 300 yards at least. It worked well for Jack O'Connor and has worked well for thousands of other hunters as well. IMHO, it's more important to get out and practice your shooting often so you keep a perishable skill intact and know your scope is still working okay.
Some purists will disagree but there's nothing wrong with that. In a perfect world, each of us would be able to practice shooting at the exact distance we shoot at animals so we "know" we can make that shot. If you're being a true purist, however, doing so means that you shoot at each 1 yard increment up to and past any range you anticipate shooting at an animal. That's a lot of shooting (nothing wrong with that) and a lot of ammo (harder to come by these days). If you use the O'Connor method, you could shoot a box or 2 of ammo from likely field shooting positions at a 100 yards or so and get a lot of realistic field shooting practice without breaking the bank.

I don't feel its abouit being a PUREST, its about KNOWING you have the skill set to shoot at ranges your willing to lob bullets at live animals

there is a HUGE difference in shooting at things at 100 yards and shooting at things at 400 yards from a FIELD position and NOT off a bench, so just using a chart that says where bullet drop will place things, is a poor way on KNOWING if you can consistently make a shot!
you can say things like it worked in the past for other generations, and YES, maybe it did, but do you NOT think time changes the way we ALL do things ,a s once we find better ways to do things and as information is handed out, THINGS change!
and I am NOT bashing here either, I am just saying
Hunters are under a LOT more scrutiny from the anti hunting forces out there, WHY give them ammo, with NOT making all the things a hunter can do happen to ensure were as-ethical as can be!

which mean, Knowing where our rifles shoot at distances we will take shots at live game!

there is a BIG difference in HOPING you can do something based on info you read on paper and KNOWING you can do it with having DONE IT!

I can read all I want about brain surgery, read everything ever written, but I DOUBT you would want me doing brain surgery on you? LOL

you can argue about no places to shoot at or BLAH BLAH BLAH<
but as all things in life, if you look you will find ways to get it done, millions of hunters have so, its NOT impossible
and if you cannot, maybe you should limit shots to ranges you can!,

I frequently site in at relatively close ranges...sometimes 25 yards for a shot or two to make sure I am close...before moving out further. My long shot in the woods where I hunt is about 75 yards. I sight dead on at 75 and then take several at 100 and 50, even one or two at 25 so I know darn well what the gun is doing. I always sight in from a rest for consistency, as it is impossible to be consistent off hand. Sure, take some shots off hand once sighted, but when sighting...be sure.
Even though I may be able to see a deer at 75 yards or maybe even 100 throught the trees, I will not take a shot. There are plenty of branches/twigs etc. between it and me, and I owe the animal a clean kill, not a lousy hit because I dont have a clear shot. It doesnt take much...only a thin twig, to deflect a round.
Sounds like you were lucky with a clean miss. Now sight in proper for what you can realistically expect. Much the only pressure we have to pull the trigger is the pressure we put on ourselves. I would much rather pass on a shot than risk a wounded animal.

In my experience, never the guns fault. And also you should zero for 200 yards, dead from 0-250 with center hold, no questions asked

Plus, even a 4 moa gun is a dead deer inside 200 yards, so try shooting at 100 and use the best grouping hunting bullet you can.