I broke the Golden rule!
 

I started tracking waaaay too soon on a doe I hit with my CB this evening at 4PM. I got a good hit and she ran back into the thicket where she had come from. I listened as she ran, then heard a loud crash, and all went quiet. I ASSumed she had crashed for good, so I took up the trail and was finding good blood, and also my bolt, then came to this bed. I'd been pushing her! I backed out, and I'll find her in the morning. With the snow she should be easy to locate. I just hope the fox don't get to her.

Just waiting for a half an hour would probably have made all the difference in the world. It just shows, it's ALWAYS best to wait unless you actually see the deer go down.

that sucks sorry man hope you find her in the morning

sucks but with all that blood i bet she'll be dead by the morning, unless the blood clots. good luck!

I also shot this deer on New Years Eve back in 2010 (also at 4PM), but I saw this one drop! New Years Eve is lucky for me.

Hope you find it. Yes, 30 minutes minimum is what I wait too. If I heard the crash like that I would have been tempted too.

With blood like that im shure shes down for good best of luck in the AM!

Hope you find her. Our hunting buddy did the similar thing one two different deer last year. The only difference is he should have waited longer. Both times he only got 1 lung, one deer he had to slit its throat because it was past legal light the other was still in legal light so he was able to put another bolt into. Wasn't a pretty season. He's made up for it though by taking 2 huge doe both of which died in about 40 yards

i do not think that "bed is from your deer. look at the blood and that blood appears to be from a running deer. it is not pooled in the bed which is exactly what would have happened if she had laid down. with that amount of blood loss there would have been a massive blood pool in that bed. i bet you just didnt go far enough

Snapper, i was thinking the same thing. unless i saw or heard her jump up, i probably would have kept on the trail. hope you found it this AM.
-jake

It was from my deer, because I took the top of my hand and layed it on the bare leaves, and they were still warm. All of that isn't important anymore, because I didn't find her, even with all of that blood loss. I followed on and off blood for 3/4 mile, then it stopped. Searched for 4 hours, so I can say I gave it a good effort. I'll be getting back in a little later today for an evening hunt.