Thanks for all the input. Keep it coming. Sounds like I should consider different ammo, and/or make sure I take that front shoulder out with these close range shots. I hope something works, because my confidence is gone in this gun for now...lol..I even caught my self looking at .270's last night, but who knows, I could have the same issue with it as well....

Well since you said it...
I think the 7mm mag round is a good enough round, but is way over kill for deer. The problem is most and I say MOST ppl dont shoot a magnum round well. Recoil and muzzle blast make for a flinch. This translates to poor accuracy and thus lost animals. You said good shot placement, so that would be ruled out in your case. IMHO, i have found that a well constructed bonded bullet is needed for magnum velocities at close range. Ballistic tip type bullets will and do sometimes explode at close range. They shine at longer ranges because they have lost that extra velocity.

With standard rounds like the 7mm08, 308 and 270 recoil and muzzle blast are much less and therefore far more comfortable to shoot. This increased confidence, accuracy, and clean kills with little or no tracking. It also seems to me that a wider range of bullet construction types work well in these rounds. I have seen several ppl go from magnum rounds to a lighter round with much better results.

Fusion. Shoots better than any other ammo in my rifles.

If your putting it in the right spot its a bang, flop kinda thing.

....these deer are shot at a close distance of 20-50 yards....

Now don't say that a bullet coming out of a 7 mag ain't expanding when it goes through a deer, some dumbass redneck will laugh you off the board like they tried to do me last year. The best advice I can give you is sell that worthless for deer hunting, elk gun that someone sold you and go get a 308, 30-06, 270, 280, 300 mag, 243, 30-30, 35 whelen, 45-70, 7mm 08, anything other than a 7 mag.