(im) patiently waiting.
@wildernessmaster did you find any loose screws?
No loose screws...
No dead deer... Two of us went back in for nearly 6 hours and scoured the 6'ish acre patch that the 30 yard deer (actually all of them) should have died or left some signs in. We also saw no buzzards or other signs of dead life.
Haven't had a chance to re-check the zero, although I am betting (but will come back here and let you know) that it will punch accurate and precise holes. My dilemma originally with just doing that (checking zero) was my facilities to do so weren't available and there were only 3 more days in the season left. Otherwise to EVERYONE's point I would just have done that.
My belief at this time... I rechecked my ballistic charts I had calculated on the load. Again not chrono'ed just basing it on box load data and what a typical 308 looses relative to barrel differences. My under 30 shot could be up to 1.5 - 2" high if I plus the velocity slightly. That said, I also may have been shooting "too" high of shoulder based on anatomy. Either way I believe for now I missed.
On the longer shots after walking them both again, the incline was probably steeper than I thought and combined with the ballistics being a little bit hotter than what I thought and a "too" high shoulder shot probably another miss.
Shooting high shoulder with a gun is a new thing for me this season. I normally shoot in the pocket behind the shoulder, but given the perimeter I was working in, thought a high shoulder shot would be better to avoid run aways. The one I did kill I aimed behind the shoulder not high shoulder.
For the record my original post was not to blame the bullet, but to see if anyone else had had issues with that size/speed bullet on thinner bodied deer. I had limited time to figure out what to do and kill a few deer in the few days left - and no range (or even valid place to accurately shoot the gun and check it). And it has been raining like hurricane season most of the time.
I don't like missing deer, wounding deer, or otherwise. I dissect every possibility when I do.