I agree with the others... there is a GREAT chance that deer is down for the count. "The Perfect Shot" can sometimes really throw you. One of the first things I tell students in Bowhunter Ed. classes is that what you saw or think you saw... will turn out to be something entirely different to often. I've taken 70 deer with a bow and I've lost 3 or 4. Of the 70 I recovered I've really had some wierd things happen. Things I was positive about turn out to be far from the truth. A perfectly hit animal(no matter how tough he is) isn't going anywhere. He'll be down within a matter of seconds. A marginally hit deer can put you through the ringer. Who ever said go back to the last blood is correct. People get in trouble by trying to rely on one of these "Truths" that we read in books. In your case, "he went to the water because he was wounded". In someone elses case... he's not hit in the leg because he went up hill. Maybe he did actually go to water..... but exhaust the blood trail, food prints even game trails before you resort to "Take a shot he went to water". The "Truths" should be a last resort. Circles should be a last resort. Grid searches should be a last resort. Patiences and dogged discipline are the keys. I feel you probably wasted lots of time searching up and down a creek for 5 miles. The time would have been better spent within 100 yards of the last blood. 5 miles is killing time and hoping for the best. 100 yards is your best chance. Inch along and when you're done you should know every inch of that 100 yards. Every step you took up or down that creek probably just put you further from your deer. Every hasty step has a good chance of destroying the next bit of evidence.