Maybe there are two snipers, one is a better shot, and takes one shot and kills his victims with a shot to the head, the other is not as good and keeps hitting his victims in the abdomen or back, this time he took multiple shots. I'm just thinking out loud.
I'd posted elsewhere that the sniper will probably need to access a range or 100 yard open area in the sticks to resight the scope after a while because use and jostling the rifle around could knock the scope off. The gut shots seem to indicate that he's consistently shooting a little low now. I'd be betting on a resonable probability that he'll try to do this when VA hunters are hitting the ranges\fields in preparation for the opening of the rifle seasons there.
.223 is not a legal deer caliber there...