The first thing I do after shooting a deer is watch him/her for as long as possible. Then I do a visual mark (tree, bush, blow down ect..) where I last saw the deer leave my sight. I wait a reasonable amount of time, then come down and check the POI. This spot gets marked (white cloth strips).I try to locate my arrow if possible, check it for blood and how much. Then I look for first blood. Again, it gets marked. I continue this process blood spot to blood spot. I look to see if it brushed against any trees or shrubs. Every 20yrds I mark the spot until I find my deer.
If the trail is perfuse, I may jump ahead. If the trail dies, I go back to last blood (marked) and start over. If the trail doesn't start again, I'll do a semi-circle until I pick up blood again, then continue untilI find my deer.If it gets dark beforeI find my deer, or it seems the deer will go a long way, I'll let it go until first light the next morning and pick up last blood again, and continue the process.
I could count on two fingers the number of deer that I didn't find within 75yrds though.