My cousin got a deer with a gutshot early in bow season. He shot him at 5:00 PM and we started looking for him in the dark around 8:30 PM. Didn't find any blood more than 15 feet from the spot where he was shot. We found at 10:00 about 300 yards from where he was shot in some really thick brush. He still wasn't dead but was wounded bad enough that he wasn't going anywhere. Went back to the house and got my bow, went back and finished him off. You'll have to look real hard, but don't give up. Hope the coyotes didn't get him.