I could have been that you wore down your battery some when you winched yourself out. Maybe it was telling you the voltage was a little low. Mine has done this before. I always try and keep the engine running while i'm using the winch.
HOLD ON..... the winch has NOTHING, ZERO, ZILCH to do with your atv 4x4 light blinking. It is NOT winch related it is ATV related. There is a dirty sensor some place, or a weak battery. which one IDK but mine does it alot, switch from 4wd back to 2wd and the light will blink... HMMM swich back between 4wd and 2wd again and all is fine. So it is NOT because of a problem with the winch.When it happens it seems like the motor is not engaging with the winch. I bought Warn because I thought it was the best. We'll see what they do for me.