if you found a bloot trail you hit more than its hair on its back
a GUT shot arrow many times will NOT hold blood on the shaft, seen it dozens of times over the yrs
the FACT that deer only went so far and laid down, Meant it was HURT/hurting!
your would have been much better off that night backing out once you seen poor sign on the arrow, rather than push a wounded deer
as MAYBE if you had, that deer would have died where it rested after teh hit
these are learning things you get experience from both doing right and wrong, so I'm NOT bashing you
BUt it is the proper thing to do , to give it your all to recover a deer you shot
as again, you knew for a fact you hit it, had a blood trail, found where it laid down
all that should have said ? go look again in GOOD light
tracking a wounded deer in the dark is , a very HARD way to find a deer, all the more so on a poorly hit one/bad blood trail
Day light might have shown you a LOT of things the dark hid
every deer you shoot deserves the effort to find it! IMO!
I've spent weeks looking for a deer I have hit , hired a tracking dog and brought in a small army of friends
and some times we found them some times we didn't
but we made the effort!