You know how fast that heat signature is going away after a critter is dead when it's cold?
I'm not sure exactly, except to say that if you don't spend at least that much time trying to find the animal before you "call in the drones" then you don't have a hair on your ass.
I shot an elk late afternoon. I mostly skinned it but on the neck I didn't leave enough space between the meat and hide. It was just above freezing but some of the neck meat was still warm the next morning. Nothing spoiled, luckily.
This year I shot a cow elk about 2pm. I used my UTV winch to get it in the pickup and haul it home whole to skin in a more convenient place. When we skinned it about 8pm, the body heat was steaming in the 25F air.
A big animal will be warm for quite a while.
