I think closure begins when you take one last look for the that buck. He's dead somewhere. I've taken several downward angled shots and have taken at least 10 quartering to shots and never had an arrow stick out; always getting full penetration.

Your problem is that you didn't make a bad shot, but there wasn't an exit hole. My toughest tracking jobs are almost always the ones where I shot on top of the deer and left no exit hole. When this happens, the blood flows in the body cavity and not out a hole.

From your description of where you said you hit it and not really where the X is at, sounds like you made a good shot. I say go take one last look just so you know inside you that you gave it every effort, then roll with the flow and keep on hunting!

Good luck to you.

iSnipe