ORIGINAL: badshotbob
the void doesn't exist - its a wives tale
That is, unless you have personally experienced the "void".
Using the same diagram Rob linked, check out where my buddy hit a deer as shown by the red dot.
At 25 yards from a 18' tree stand, deer broadside, my buddy hit this buck in the spot shown above. The arrow had some blood, but mostly hair and muscle. We tracked pin spots of blood after leaving the area for several hours which dried up quickly. Never found the buck.
The week after I was hunting from this same stand and here comes the buck he shot. I know it was the same buck because my buddy described him as a small four point with a front right limp. It was him. He turned broadside and I saw a black circle about the size of a quarter where he hit him, as shown on the diagram above. He was fine.
If you hit that buck in the same area, he will more than likely be fine.
If your buddyindeed hit the deer where the red spot is he hit dead center of the spinal chord. And you wouldn't have had to track it at all. Trust me ifyou hit one in the spine they won't go anywhere. I guarentee your buddy hit above the spine. As people mentioned earlier the spine is lower than most people realize. Trust me I have hit two deer in the spine this year and they drop instantly.