Slow week for me so far

This week has been slow so far, not able to get out and hunt right now so I am bored to tears. I am working one night a week so that makes for a long day and at my age I don't just rebound like a spring chicken any more. The Holidays are coming and so is the Maryland rifle season which I just love to hunt. I love shooting rifles and in DE. we have to use shotguns which is not exciting to me. At 100 yds I like to cloverleaf shots and with a shotgun if I get a 3 inch group then that is a good thing. I also like to shot them in the head or spine but with a shotgun I usually shoot for the heart lung area.
My favorite rifle is well I have several favorites but lets look at what I would take. If I am hunting the edge of a field and woods I would take my 8mm Mauser custom sporting rifle with aperture sights it is great for the woods and making long shots. If I was deep in the woods shooting off the ground in a bush pile then it is my trusty 30-30 the bullet just eats light brush and the effects are def. positive when you pick up your deer. Now If I am shooting over a open field then it is one of my scoped long range guns and head shots only, no reason to ruin good meat.
I have seen some beautiful pictures of some incredible deer and hearing some really strange stories. Seems one of my friends went hunting and shot a nice deer of about 80-90 lbs with a heart lung shot using the bow. Well the deer ran into a thicket about 80 yds away and ran for the center of the thickest part. My friend decided to wait a few min and give the deer time to lay down and expire. Suddenly from the thicket came a scream best described as a woman crying out in major pain and the thicket was being thrashed inside. Things subsided and he went in the thicket following the frothy blood trail. When he got inside the thicket  an area about 10 feet in diameter had been completely trashed and trees about 1 1/2 inch in diameter had been pushed down. A ragged trail led out of the thicket but there was no more blood trail or hair. I am saying it is a cougar or possibly a canine but that would be a beast of a canine or feline to pull that off.