Originally Posted by
rockport
You should only wait as long as you think it will take the deer to die.
Deer can be just as easily wasted by going after them too early or late
I only gun hunt, but if I think something went wrong with the shot, I wait 3/4-1 hour. Give them time to settle in and bleed out.
Funny story about that, shot a Doe, a wisp of grass and a couple twigs between me and her, likely deflected my bullet a little. She takes off like a scalded Cat. I wait awhile, maybe an hour and start to track her, gave up after an hour and a half, was around 5 F out, I was froze. Decided I'd come back in the morning. Called my buddy to come pick me up, we double checked the blood trail, a few tiny drops, tried to make sense of the tracks, there were many. Get in his car, turn on the headlights and she was laying twenty feet behind my high seat.