Thats a great story and Im sure a real disappointment. On Midwest Whitetails last year they had a very interesting video show on deer dropping during the shot. They showed 2 or 3 deer dropping after the arrow was released. The videos show 2 bucks hit high with no kill and one clean miss. I'll try to make this short, They reviewed many videos to try and determine exacting when the deer would drop based on the noise of the bow and arrow speed. Here is what they came up with. If the deer is within 20 yards, the arrow speed is fast enough to overcome the noise of the bow on an alerted deer and the deer can not drop fast enough ( drop/crouch and turn to run). They suggested that if the deer is more than 20 yards away and either alerted or you have to stop him with a grunt consider shooting slightly low. If you get a chance it was a 2009 show. By the way Midwest Whitetails is a great online show.
http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/gall...d-lessons.html