I was going to say the same thing as nchawkeye.

I would not be to quick to judge about a little ruined meat. On an openfield,where I can watch them run and drop, that might be different. But notin some areas where I hunt. When youhunt roads, paths, or places you can get to with some ease,through cedar, black ash, and balsam marshes, putting them down on the spot is very important. In placeswhere the tangle brush is so thick you can get lost or turned aroundin just a few yards of entering it. Your heart just drops when you shoot and that deer spins and runs into themarsh.

I shot a doe a few seasons back that wentinto that stuff and it took me over two hours of crawling around, over and under that stuff,to find her. How a big deer can run through that stuff and disappear like the do to this day amazes me. She was only about 30 yards in actually. When I did, she was a monster doe, and it was all that I could do to basically get her out of that stuff. I finally walked out after marking her spot with fluorescent ribbons and taking a GPS reading. Left my rifle and gear at the stand to free my hands. And returned to her, marking the easy way in and out with ribbons. She was impossible to drag I discovered. So I did the only thing else to do, I carried her out on my shoulders. That night I was so exhausted, I could hardly move or think straight. I was (I hate to admit this) at one point concerned I would not get her out.

Its like walking through a hedge with bog grass under foot. Ankles get twisted, you fall, its actually dangerous. Many hunters that shoot deer near dusk, will not go in after them until the next day. And with good reason. It is easy to get turned around in there. And that is the last place you want to spend a night in the middle of November and December. That's why I shoot conicals and roundball. To do some massive bone damage if necessary.

So when I see a deer on a path that my ATV can come down, or a skid trail, and it's only feet from the tangle... I plant it right there. If that means breaking front shoulders, spines, head shots, what ever it takes to put that deer on the ground. It gets done. A deer on the ground with a busted front shoulder is better to me then one in the tangle that I can not find, get out, or have to get out.