Taking the OP at his word that the story is not made up, I’ll try offer some feedback without judgement.
His mistake and lack of judgement bothered him and he admitted it and accepted responsibility. How many people will report themselves to the DNR after a hunting screw up? Stood up and accepted the consequences.
24HCF is not the place to tell the story and the OP opens himself up to all things mentioned.
Loose the 7mm Mag as it’s not needed where the OP hunts. I hunt near that area and the mags are not needed. A big buck is going to be 160 to 180, average 130 and does 90 to 105. Mild calibers or 30 cals with 150 g bullets are plenty even over a cutover.
Don’t know the hunting skills of the OP but suggest he starts letting deer walk and not shoot, mental game to condition yourself to plan your shot even if it means you don’t take it. In the SC timber and cutovers you don’t get a lot of time to shoot and people tend to rush it and then the excitement takes over and mistakes are made. Better hunting skills are in order. Ask the Game Warden if you can tag along sometime if the OP doesn’t have access to more skilled hunters.
It’s a reminder to know your target and call your shot. If you have two doe tags, shoot twice. Hunting season here lasts from September to January 1st so come back another day and hunt if you only get one.
I got hyped up once after 2 hours of rain, cold and wet when a doe came out. I shot and it was way too small. I put a doe tag on it and took it to the processor. There was another hunter there and he said, “that’d be a nice deer when it growd up”. I decided to become a better hunter after that. Some would say the guy was a smart ass but he had a point....
