How about those REDSKINS??? I suggest we let this one slip to the bottom of the page and disappear, just like the deer did. You did everything right...AFTER the shot. It's that before part that got ya'. BUT, I figure you don't want to hear that.....at least I don't. That's why I posted it first and maybe the rest will let it die. Hope someone else DID or DOES find the deer. That way it might not go to waste. If you followed the deer several hundred yards, you can bet you didn't hit the offside shoulder. To do that you would have had to pass through the lungs. Since the deer went "SEVERAL" hundred yards, we know it didn't hit lungs. Our best educated guess is major muscle damage. It's hell when you can't see where an arrow hit. That means you don't get a good sight picture(because it's too dark). Add to that the moving deer... well there's just no way of knowing. Your only hope at this point is to get REAL lucky. Sorry about your loss. Put it in the piggy bank of knowledge and learn from it. No matter how many we've killed or how many we've found, it can still happen to us. There are ways to minimize it, and they all start with BEFORE the shot.