I had a very similar experience this past weekend. I shot a doe about 30 minutes before dark and thought I had a great shot. I shot and heard a thump, and then saw the deer almost fall over right there, then she just walked off. I tried to get another shot but I wasn't quick enough. I thought I saw her go down about 40 yards away. I got down in about 15 minutes and went to the arrow. There was no blood on it so I almost gave up, but then I noticed blood--nice blood on the broadhead. There was also white stuff on the broadhead--whichI concluded immediately was tallow. It was too dark out and I didn't have a good light so I opted to come back in a while. On the way out of the woods, I came across another hunterwho had shot a deer(accidentally) in the head and was having a difficult time tracking it. I helped him and a couple guys track it for a couple hours and we finally came out in a field in the direction of my stand. As we were shining lights in the field, we saw a doe limping around, apparently hurt in the shoulder area. We came to the conclusion it was my deer, since the other hunter had shot a buck. There was nothing we could do that night, since the deer could still walk and even run if necessary. So, we gave up tracking that night.

The next day, a friend and I went back to the field and scoured for my doe. It was not there so we searched the woods, where 4 wheelers had scared it the previous night, for several hours. It was basically a blind search since the deer dropped no blood we were aware of. After a couple hours of that, we went back to point A and looked for blood where I shot it. I looked for another hour or more for any drops but couldn't find any, even when I followed the path the deer had run after the hit.

My conclusion is that I definetely had a shoulder hitbecause of the lack of blood on the arrow(lack of penetration) and the fact that the deer was limping so horribly. Furthermore, I believe I hit the brisket because that is the only area there with tallow. I am almost sure the wound was superficial and it would have been an impossible tracking endeavor. Nevertheless, I gave it several hours of decent searching soI don't feel like I gave up.

You should at leat give it a few more hours searching before giving up. The way you say that deer kicked convinces me that it was a good hit and you may have hit the heart because of the amount of blood on the arrow. Don't give up!!!!

I will be going out and huntingf the same stand today. I gave it three dyas wait and it has rained so I'm sure it will be fine. I did get picked off by deer but I hope all is forgotten. Either way, there are more deer out there.

Good luck!