the last 2 bucks i have shot made it to water and died there, prior to that my SIL shot a nice buck and they searched for him for 2 days, he left a slight blood trail, it was on a river and to my knowledge nobody ever looked in the river, the following spring while shed hunting her son found his skull in the water basically in the area where she had shot him. if you hunt near water and the buck runs that way, that is the first place to look,IMO