ORIGINAL: rybohunter
remember the deer may die shortly before you get there. Don't assume the meat is bad. Good luck finding him, you did good to back out.
That's a good point. My buddy shot a doe one evening a couple weeks ago, and we didn't start tracking until 10:00 the next morning. We found her piled up 150 yards from the scene of the crime, and she wasn't stiff yet. Only been dead about 30 minutes.....Good luck!