If ur going to hunt then you better track. I once spent three days tracking a shoulder shot doe. Came up on her several times but couldnt get another shot in. I finally had to quit when the sign stopped and I did a body search for 5 hrs. A deer hit in the shoulder will survive, but just because you think that you got 3 inches doesn't mean that you did. You owe it to the animal to make every attempt to track and recover.