More than anything, I hate it for the deer. He lost his life for no reason at this point except for me to learn from my mistakes.
True, but you could look at it another way too. Maybe, just maybe, this will keep this from happening to you again. That deer could have sacrificed for several other deer, know what I mean? I mean, if you would have found this one, everything went perfectly, you would think , Hey, this isn't too hard. Shoot deer, find deer. When you lull yourself into that false sense of security, we tend to get cocky and arrogant, thinking it will never happen. Then, when it does, we think it's no big deal and don't worry about it. Then it happens again. And again. And again......
From reading your post, I know one thing....It won't happen to you again, at least not like this. That deer saved many others from being lost as well.