The first deer I ever shot was a decent whitetail buck. We watched him feeding his way back to the thick stuff. It was my first year hunting and the first hour of opening day. I took a shot at him and watched him jump. I told Dad I was pretty sure I hit him. We walked up to where he was and no blood. Walked towards the brush and saw him jump up and run deeper into the brush. Dad asked how sure I was that I hit him. I said I did but we couldn't find any blood. After looking awhile and not finding anything we moved on to a different area. I ended up shooting a little spike later that day.
A couple days later Dad was talking to a friend that was hunting the same area. He said he was walking by the wooded area and could hear an abnormal number of crows and vultures in there. Started cutting his way through and about 50 yards in found the buck I shot. I had shot him too far back so he didn't bleed much. The guy said he was a real big 6 point.
Made me learn real early to be picky on my shot choices and look real hard if I think there's a chance I hit a deer.