Everybody who has posted on this topic so far have made very good points.Waiting is key! That same coolness that we bring to our hunting strategy we need to bring to our actions after our shot.There is obviously no benefit to pushing a wounded animal.I have been very fortunate and have never lost an animal,but the second deer I shot with a bow I screwed up on.I knew I hit it further back than I wanted to (liver),I was young and in woods that were very thick and I wasn't completely familiar with this area.It was anafternoon hunt and I had shot this buck within about 30 minutes before dark.
The point of the description is to say that there were all these variables going on that had me anxious.I started to trail this deer after only giving it 20 minutes,it was close to dark.I jumped it after about 100 yards.I immediately backed out and came back with help the next morning,I found it within an hour,unfortunately so had the coyotes.Had I not been so anxious and given that animal a couple of hours I would have recovered it more than likely from the first spot that I jumped it.
While at the time and even now I feel like I had minimized my mistake in pursuing it to soon,and recovered it relatively soon the next morning,it bothers me that I lost the animal to the coyotes.Unfortunately in my area the over night wait while the prudent thing to do can quite often cost you the animal.The lesson in that is that in my area any way is that a hunter needs to be prepared and make provision to spend the evening giving ample time to the animal to expire and then to track in the dark.(What ever it takes)!
The "I lost my animal what do I do threads" are a little challenging no doubt but if we can help someone and educate them so the liklihood of them having this same experience again is minimized it is time well spent.