I lost a slug-hit whitetail when I was 16 or 17. That animal was grazed enough to have stopped initially, but was spooked by friends I was hunting with as I was readying for a simple kill shot. We tracked that doe for quite a distance with very little to follow other than her footprints- specks of blood were scarce. When we finally found her again one of the friends, a fellow who fired his gun once or twice with slug loads before we hunted, stepped in front of me to make the less than 50 yard shot, a simple deal with the gun I was practiced with for weeks before the season. He missed. We never saw her again.
I haven't a lost anything bigger than a fox since. I have had some pretty horrendous tracking jobs at times, but I generally do the same whether it be a rabbit or a ptarmigan too. I see it as good training. You never know when the ability to follow and find will mean saving a friend or other person.
