You know, I had to think heavily before I responded to this because I'm sure my honest responsewill be against the grain of some people here.........but I'm not gonna sugar coat it.

The sex/size of the animal definitely plays a role in when I decide to track a poorly hit deer. If it's a slammer P&Y whitetail..........I didn't shoot that animal for meat. I shoot does for meat. I shot that animal for it's rack, for a beautiful mount, and to bring closure to ahunt that I had the opportunity to share with it.

With that said, if I put what I consider to be a marginal shot on an animal....I inspect the sight of impact and don't see adequate sign, and it's a slammer buck........I'm giving the animal probably 12 hoursno matter what the temp is. In that scenario, I'll err on the side of caution of at least finding the animal and give the animal probably a couple more hours than what would be needed in any imaginable circumstance for it to expire, and I would probably also protect the scene as well from outside disturbances that might make the animal get up and move. I know if given enough timeand no disturbance........I'm going to probably find that animal even if there is no blood. At least I have the rack.............and in the worst case scenario nothing else truly goes to "waste". Mother nature will make sure of that. I'd like to avoid this circumstance at all costs, but if I find myself there this is how I would handle it.

Now if it's a doe that I have shot, and it's a marginal shot and the arrow/sign around the scene of impact shows me this, I'm still going to give her the recommended time to expire of at least 4 hours for liver, 8 hours for guts or anything else not in the immediate chest cavity no matter what the temp is. I'm not going to push that one to 12 hours though "just in case" if its in the temps that could possibly ruin the meat.