Am I a true hunter now?
I wanted to test whether or not animals despawn if you don't land a clean hit on the first shot. As you can see the Tracking Distance, I followed this big boi for 6km and then when it finally decided to stop for a rest, I took the shot using my last M1 bullet and with that sweet ping, he fell. I missed the lung though somehow. But all of that doesn't matter, still took him down in the end. So, to anyone wondering if animals magically disappear if you don't drop them with the first shot, here's your answer, THEY WILL STILL PERMANENTLY ROAM YOUR MAP WITH A PERMANENT SCAR OF YOUR FAILURE. So please, do the ethical thing and put them out of their misery. No, it didn't limp or whatever, it was still actively running for most of my tracking. So yeah, 10/10 game.
I don't know if anyone has posted something like this before, I was too lazy to go check. :P