Harvesting a deer IS a sucess. BUT, ultimately, I say no. If you're patterning a deer for a certain amount of time and have him/her within bow range (or whatever you use) and don't get an opportunity to harvest it but learn something from the hunt which in turn leads to a later harvest, then I think that hunt which you did NOT have an op. to harvest it but learned something from it (like its pattern) is a success. In all honesty though, when I learn something new about a deer's pattern or where a group of deer are moving to/from is a success.....it opens up a whole new opportunity of hunts in the future.