Bad shot, you bring up another aspect and that is overconfidence in ones effective killing range. 40 yards in the back yard is a heck of a lot different then 42 yards down hill, adrenaline pumping, sun at bad angle, walking target, with limbs and such in the way. There are a lot of good post on this subject and good points have been made. My opinion is that too many folks have not adequately prepared for the job of tracking an animal, then come to the boards and ask help. The big problem is it is often hard to tell who just happened to get a bad break, and who screwed up. Whether people on this site like to admit it or not, there are too many shots that shouldn't have been taken to begin with, too many people not capable of doing a tracking job, and too many people spending more time with their trail cams, then with focusing on the fact that they are killing. It's our duty to recover all animals we shoot, or die trying. I seriously doubt that the number of deer recovered is enhanced by posting on this site. If we sit back and evaluate every scenario that has resulted in a wounded animal, it is virtually always human error in one form or another, that's something I don't think we should be so quick to post up.