fellas - I waited, I know I shouldn't have (explained later).

I wanted to know what you guys would do in a generic situation like that. Mine was a bit more difficult - seems there's always nuances about these situations. Here's a bit more info:

- the doe got up and ran when I got about 15 yards from her. She ran out of flashlight range and we both decided to leave her till morning.
- I didn't have my bow with me. It was 1/2 mile away in my truck.
- The grass she was laying in was very tall and would have made an archery shot extremely difficult if not impossible.
- i was on private/posted land that I didn't have explicit permission to be on. And, I didn't know which property I was on. I thought we were getting close to houses and we were chasing the deer towards the dog trainers house (20+ dogs)
- Because of the little amount of blood I was finding the last thing I wanted to do was to get her on her feet.

Why I took up the trail on a gut shot deer (yes Rob, I've read your post about what to do after the shot every year for the last 5-6years????):
- I didn't know it was gut shot until after I found blood, which wasnearly 3 hours after the shot. the deer was shot at 6:15. took up trail at about 8:00. Didn't find blood forever! I've shot 24 deer in 21 years of huntingand I've never had that much problems either finding blood or a dead deer.
- I didn't know the deer was quartering to (or the arrow deflected) until I found the deer the next morning. The entrance wound was a bit farther back then I thought and the exit wouned went out her back left leg. I was convinced I at least got liver, if not one lung.
- lots of rain was predicted for that night. It ended up raining almost all night and throughout the day on Sunday. Anyone in Minnesota can back meup on that one.
- The deer was not bleeding well at all. Even though I saw the arrow disappear into the deer I wasn't convinced there was an exit wound (doesn't make sense, I know - all I can say is my mind was playing tricks on me[&o]).
- If I waited until morning initially I would have been by myself, but had someone w/ me to help track at the time.

I think that's about it. Generally, I would agree w/ you all about taking the shot. I told my buddy that sometimes what's legal and what's ethical are two different things. But when that doe got up and ran we both decided to wait until morning.

It probably would have worked out better if I had gone back for my bow. She ended up running out of the weeds into a wooded area no more then 50 yards away where I probably could have gotten a shot. And, something had been eating at her during the night. I was able to salvage the front legs, most of the backstraps, and miscellaneous trim. If nothing else, I learned from this hunt.

thanks all for the input.