Help Needed

i would not give up! less than three hours tracking a not perfect shot harvest, would be lazy and disrespecfull to the deer in my opinion ! its one thing because of dark and re pick up the tracking at first light the next day but to just give up that fast on a search, thats just as bad as these trophy huntes that are going out and killing big ol bucks and just cuting off thier head and leaving the rest lay caz all they wanted was the head for the wall anyways,:ranting: .
if the rain is light you will still see blood it will just be a little harder to see and some it will help to see, a steady rain might just wash it all away but then i would then start at the last know spot (if you knew the rain was coming it would had helped to make the blood you had every few yards as refrance points, it does help kind of give you a sence of direction the deer was heading) but go back to your last point and start walking back n forth in a half moon patern stepping out about 20 yards at a time on each end or 10 yards if its thicher and pay attintion in the middle of the thich stuff,

now i dont want to rattle any cages or anything I have lost game before too, but i've neve not at least spent a full day or better trying to it either, i've just always felt i at leat owed it to the animal

If you hit it in the area you said you did, more than likely you have a dead deer waiting to be found.
Don't allow yourself to become impatient so easily and give up too soon, a 10 + point Buck deserves as much tracking effort as possible,
keep this in mind it will be easier finding this dead one (because he isn't going anywhere) vs. trying to harvest another live one.
A gut/liver hit isnt ideal for tracking but it is a kill shot, the deer will be jumpy and heading in no specific direction which means he could end up anywhere,
he may go left for awhile and then turn to go right for no reason and then after 40 or 50 yards turn to head back left again, he's wounded and confused.
Wounded deer try to head for water that's another thing you might want to keep in mind.
Good Luck and let us know if you find him, i'd love to see his pics.

What I would do is go to the last place you saw blood and begin doing circles from that area. Since there are no blood signs left, just keep circling around. The funny thing about deer is that they hardly EVER go in a straight line after being hit. I've heard many stories about deer being hit and running one direction and ending up 200 yds in the opposite dirrection. That's why I suggest the circle thing. Check leaf piles or places where the ground is lower than normal. Try brushy places too. They sometimes like going into thick thorn areas or weeded areas for cover because they know they need to lay down. I've also had an experience where one crawled up under the exposed roots of a tall oak on the side of a creek. Took me FOREVER to find her, but there she was and she was camoflagued in well.