According to John D.Gill and David C. O'Meara in their 1965 study "Numbers of rigor mortis in deer" in the Journal of Wildlife Management: Stiffning of wounded deer does not occur until after death.
[From Trailing Whitetails; John Trout Jr. copyright 1987; Stackpole Books ISBN:0-89621-109-6]

Although John Trout Jr.'s Trailing Whitetails is out of print, he now has a new version "Trailing Wounded Deer." I've been a bow hunter since 1963 and got this book a year ago and I have learned a tremendous amount from this excellent must read book.

Bowhunter