dpv-i feel for you. i have had the same thing happen to me 3 times. once in 08, and twice in 09. i have nocked 3 bucks on the ground only to have them take off when my climber hit the ground. i blame this on my choice of bullet--the tc shockwave. the 8 pt in 08 goes like this-shot buck around 400pm. watch him lay there about 60 yards(not moving a muscle). continue hunting till about 10 minutes before dark. get down-as soon as my foot comes off the climber he is gone. i go to where he laid down--not a lot of blood. its in some tall pines(if that matters). i come back at noon the following day w/ my tracking expert. he finds the trail in no time. we go about 300 yards and we kick him up. we find him alive laying on the river bank 600 yards from where we kicked him up. i sneak up on him and finish him off. only one lung was hit the day before. 157 lbs dressed. fast forward to 09. shot a 6 pt and a 6 or 8 pt on the same morning. both hit the ground and dont move(actually thrased a little) . i wait around an hour. keep in mind that they are in brush and i can see them both laying there in the scope. they are gone when i get down. lots of bllod-no deer. we search for about 2 hrs(4 of us). no deer.
iin 08 i used a TC triumph and 09 the pro hunter. 100 gr 777 and 250gr shockwave. after the 09 fiasco(it was on the second saturday of bp season ) i change to the xtp's. im 6 shots, 6 deer since changing. i could nto be happier. i have a bunch of shockwaves to give away now. it seems to me that more energy is expended in the deer using the xtp's. most of the shockwave holes looked like dime size holes with little or no real tissue damage. they shoot great on paper(dont get me wrong) but for Virginia terrain they didnt work for me.