Sometimes bad shots occur, whether you pulled it, flinched, deer flinched, moved at last minute, etc. The question I'm wondering is:

Once you've used your firearm, and you realize "uh-oh, I may not have hit him/her as well as I would have liked", what is the general consensus on how long you should wait before searching for the deer? Im assuming the waiting game is to give the animal time to die so that you dont come up on him, spook him, and have him run to the next county, but sometimes is just so hard to sit still and wait knowing that you might have put a bad shot on the deer and he is out there suffering because of your ineptness.

So whats everybodies thoughts on this?