RE: would a dead deer float?
I would venture to say yes. A few years back i was on a blood trail of a bull elk i had arrowed when the trail led down to the river where we found the bull floating in the middle. We gave him close to 2 hours b4 we tracked him so he couldn't have been in there for that long of a period. I do alot of beaver hunting here in the spring and usually the beavers will float in the water when dead for some period of time. I have had beavers sink and came back the next day to find that the rose to the surface. I know beavers are dif from a deer but it might be a suggestion to keep checking the body of water for a few days. Meat won't be any good by that time but you would have an explanation as to what happened.