RE: My consience is killing me (really long)
The bad news is it happens. You took the shot and maybe you hit him good or maybe ya didn't. Its in the past. You can't beat yourself up about it. Its part of our sport. First deer I ever shot was like that. Some how we didn't find it. You do the best you can to make a responsible shot and make a kill quickly. You did the responsible thing and took ample amount of time to search the area. Thats all you can do. Sorry to hear it was such a nice deer. But hey. We all learn from our mistakes, next time see if you can get him to come closer and give you a primo shot.