OK, here is the DEC reply:

Robert,
Thanks for contacting our website with your question about tracking
wounded deer at night.

You may continue to track after the end of shooting hours (sunset), as
long as you do not carry a firearm or bow with you. If the deer is
mortally wounded you can recover it, however it is illegal to continue
to carry a hunting implement.

Good luck hunting this fall,



Dick Henry
Big Game Biologist/Wildlife Services
NYSDEC , Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4754
Phone: 518-402-8867
Fax: 518-402-8925