hunting/recovering in thick brush

Concentrate on shot placement would be the first thing I would place emphasis on.

I shoot the deer with a high shoulder shot that drops them in their tracks.
Caliber needs to be appropriate since you are trying to hit heavy bone with enough shock and awe to disrupt their entire nervous system, as well as their main blood supply.

^^ This. And use a bullet that will give you a pass through, like an Accubond or heavy for caliber bullet. And pigs, I would shoot high neck, in the neck, or head shot. These shot placements will anchor them where they stand. I never shoot pigs behind the shoulder, since they run off after being hit.

I hunt in South Texas where every bush has thorns and if it doesn't have thorns it has fangs.
I shoot the deer with a high shoulder shot that drops them in their tracks.
Caliber needs to be appropriate since you are trying to hit heavy bone with enough shock and awe to disrupt their entire nervous system, as well as their main blood supply.

This. My 11 year old son shot a nice buck near a fence line and hit it in the shoulder with a .243. We waited a couple hours and all we found was meat with some bone fragments in it. Blood trail stopped after about 75 yds and he was never recovered. Searched for over 5 hours. This was bad placement for a .243, but I am now a little sour on the smaller bullet. Big dear need big lead.

Are you bow hunting or gun hunting?

gun for now, probably do some clearing before bow season next year

Neck shoot them and you won’t have to worry about tracking.

OK. So I hunt northeast Texas hardwood and cedar forest with thick underbrush and have always tried to keep in mind that wildlife, much like humans, tend to travel the path of least resistance. Learn those paths well. They may not necessarily be "the trail", but the animal will likely funnel via instinct to those paths. And obviously, you don't need to do this if you never lose visual. This knowledge has helped us locate more downed animals than any other knowledge. When I get off track, I go back to the last place I saw the deer and start over. Look for blood up to about 5 foot high on the brush and trees, not just on the ground. Also, after the shot, be sure to open your ears and listen very closely because the animal may tend to crash and bang off of trees and brush, thereby giving you an indication of direction of travel. It is a skill that takes time to develop but it is very useful and makes the experience more fulfilling.

Red Cloud's tip above is a good tip and goes along with what I am explaining.

I wouldn't do too much clearing or you may run out much of what is there.

Shot placement, weapon, optics, caliber, ammunition type, etc. is all largely a matter of preference no matter where you are hunting and you should have that all figured out before you leave home. Much of the advice here seems to be geared towards shot placement to drop the deer in its tracks in order to avoid losing visual which is not a poor tactic if you are confident enough in your abilities. As long as you are proficient at delivering a fatal shot that kills the animal within a 100 yard radius, you task will be far easier. In my experience, when they make it further than about 100 yards, it gets progressively to exponentially more difficult to locate a downed animal in thick cover.

Good luck to you.

This. My 11 year old son shot a nice buck near a fence line and hit it in the shoulder with a .243. We waited a couple hours and all we found was meat with some bone fragments in it. Blood trail stopped after about 75 yds and he was never recovered. Searched for over 5 hours. This was bad placement for a .243, but I am now a little sour on the smaller bullet. Big dear need big lead.

This. My 11 year old son shot a nice buck near a fence line and hit it in the shoulder with a .243. We waited a couple hours and all we found was meat with some bone fragments in it. Blood trail stopped after about 75 yds and he was never recovered. Searched for over 5 hours. This was bad placement for a .243, but I am now a little sour on the smaller bullet. Big dear need big lead.

I've been trying to use common sense here, but maybe there's a tip i'm missing. i'm currently hunting 85 acres of very thick, almost impassible east texas forest and brush, with the exceptions being two lanes cut out by oilfield workers and an area about 30 yards squared from my stand where my feeder is set. Obviously a 1-shot clean, quick kill is the goal, but otherwise...
any tips on hunting, and more on my mind, searching for and recovering an animal...shooting a good buck that will crash into the thicket has me concerned.

If your buck runs after the shot: WAIT at least 30 min. . . . . .

hunt mornings/midday; skip evening hunts. hard to find what you can't see.

This. My 11 year old son shot a nice buck near a fence line and hit it in the shoulder with a .243. We waited a couple hours and all we found was meat with some bone fragments in it. Blood trail stopped after about 75 yds and he was never recovered. Searched for over 5 hours. This was bad placement for a .243, but I am now a little sour on the smaller bullet. Big dear need big lead.