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These sound like a lot, I suppose, but I have killed several dozen deer, so the loss rate is roughly 5-8%. From other hunters I've known, hunted and talked with, that is a very common rate
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I've been blessed to hunt deer(both gun and bow) for almost half a century in a state with good deer numbers and liberal tags and seasons. Over those years, I also have had the privilege to hunt with many family members and good friends. I agree, Brian's percentage of losing 1 outta 20 seems to be a good guesstimate on average. While losing any deer to scavengers and the thought of any animal having to suffer longer than necessary should always be avoided if possible, in reality, it does happen and happens more than most here seem to want to admit. In those 48 years I have either butchered and processed or helped in the processing of the majority of the animals I and/or my family members have harvested. I have seen many a strange thing done by bullets and arrows after they have entered a deer's body. I also know a deer's anatomy very well. All bad shots do not start out as bad shots. Not all poor shot placement is due to lack of skill or knowledge or apathy. Sometimes stuff just happens. Sometimes the bad shot isn't a mortal wound either. Had two bucks over the years during early bow seasons where the hits looked good, blood trail was heavy and still lost the bucks to coyotes, or so I thought. Only to harvest the same deer or know of someone else harvesting the animal during the later gun or bow seasons. Wounds were superficial and deer were perfectly normal except for some scar tissue. Over the years I have known folks that claim they have never lost an animal, only made one shot bang flop kills or clean misses. If the animal was never seen again, can one be absolutely certain the miss was clean? Coupla years ago I was in an elevated tree stand on the edge of a large swamp on public land. Hour after daylight another hunter comes and stands on the other side of the swamp. After watching a doe walk by I see the hunter raise his gun and fire as the doe starts across the swamp. Deer drops immediately. I assume since it is early opening day, he's gonna wait to dress the deer in hopes a buck will come by. Hour later another doe steps out on the same trail and the hunter shoots again. Again dropping the doe in her tracks. This time the hunter walks halfway to the dead deer, walks in circles looking down and then goes back to his original spot. Being somewhat curious as to what's going on and knowing my state regs, I climb down and walk over and ask why he has two deer on the ground and hasn't bothered to do anything with them. He gives me this surprised look and says he's missed them both. The look was repeated when I took him to the spot where both deer laid less than 20 yards apart. Thru his scope the deer looked closer than they were and even after making a good effort to find blood, he was looking in the wrong spot. Since he lost the deer in his scope due to recoil, he never saw them go down. He made two good shots, got two bang flops looked hard for blood, and still almost left two deer to go to waste. Had I not been there, he too may have thought he had never lost a wounded deer.