Depends on what definition of "recovery" you are using to gauge the incident.

In my opinion, if everything was done with the best intentions when taking the shot, the shooter did the best within the parameters of his or her skill, gave his/her best shot in trying to (earlier) find the deer, and was still looking for and found the deer days later; although the deer was not salvageable, I would call it a recovery.

No matter how hard a person tries to prevent it, loosing a deer can happen to anyone.