Great initial post, Rob! And an awesome thread. Tons of good info.

One thing I could add that applies more to elk than deer, is use your sense of smell. We have recovered a lot of elk by walking around the last known spot of blood in large concentric cirles, and walking slowly into the wind. Elk have a pretty powerful odor that is pretty easy to pick up in a light breeze, and we have recovered a lot of them over the years using this method.

Knowing how the animal is hit gives you a good idea of the general area you should find it down, and sometimes as mentioned before, the blood trail can peter out.

Most important, as Rob mentioned, do not bump the animal. Give them a good long time to lay down and die, without knowing there are humans in the area.