Decades ago my brother shot a whitetail doe at 150 yards. We both heard the whomp of a solid hit, I saw the dear react to the shot. Two of us searching for 45 minutes found nothing to indicate a hit either where the deer was standing or along the path we saw it run to exit the field.
I think where one hunts affects the risk of losing an animal. We tend to hunt more open ground, most times when we hunt timber there is snow on the ground. The animals reaction to and movements after the shot are easier to observe in open ground or poplar glades as potential follow up shots to take.
One day in Texas my son and I were "tagged out" and spent a day trying help two guides recover a wounded deer (dropped to the shot, hunter felt no need to shot a dead deer again so no follow up) thick, nasty bush full of cats claw i think its called; like wait a bush light. The ground was limestone with very little soil so following tracks any distance was impossible for me, We never found the deer and I ruined a pair of jeans. Our guide was a keep shooting until he's down guy and make damn sure he doesn't get to the bush, fully understand why.
The conifer plantations in Scotland are thick nasty cover as well. When I hunted in Hawaii 50 yards line of sight was quite long.
I speculate that those of us that hunt in open ground or gladed woods often with snow lose less game than those who hunt in the thick nasty with no tracking snow. Just because we can see more and often track easier because of ground conditions and snow.
As said previously; hunt long enough and stuff happens.
