Sounds like a dumb contract to me. On the outfitters part that is. Hit animals many times don't bleed, at least not enough to recover any. I shot an eland once three times in the shoulder with a .375 / 300 Barnes. He finally tipped over but there was no blood to speak of, wasn't dripping or anything. If he decided to take off, what's the verdict? Lots of examples of this.
My personal rule is if I hit him I pay for him, regardless of the outcome. 99% of the time, you know. Sometimes you can see it as they run away, sometimes there's hair and/or fluid but no blood. I guess if the contract was specific to finding blood, the landowner would be hosed?
I recently missed a monster reedbuck with the crossbow that we had been hunting three days for. My PH, a guy I've taken 50 animals with, declared "you got him" because it sure sounded like a hit when the arrow went through the high reeds he was standing in. I knew I missed him because I saw the arrow go low in the scope, plus I knew my hold was too low by misjudging his shoulder position on a small-bodied species standing chin-deep in the grass, plus we all watched the ram run off for about 3/4 of a mile with no evidence of a hit. We even went back the next morning and looked for four solid hours, no hair, no blood and couldn't find the arrow. If he was hit we'd have either seen it sticking out of the critter or laying on the ground some distance behind him in the case of a pass-thru.
The last thing I want is to be on some guys valuable property, hunting his valuable game, and argue that I missed only to have the animal be found dead a couple days later. My credibility along with the ability to hunt that property again is on the line after all.
FYI, landowner called the PH a few days later and said he just saw the critter, alive, well and unscathed, and invited us back anytime we wanted for another crack at him!