This being only the third hunt I've gone to in as many years, and only the second deer I've ever shot, I was not aware of the time frame it would take to find an animal after it was fatally shot. As I mentioned in my original post I am a novice at the sport. The first doe Ihunted was a neck shot and she dropped where she stood.

In any case, it wasn't my call to quit the search. It was three days before Thanksgiving and the guides were ready to head back to their perspective homes. I also had a 14 hour drive back to Miami to go to work the next morning or else I wouldn't have left knowing that there was an animal dead or woundedby my handsomewhere in the woods. Time wasnot on my side.