If your buddy indeed 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 if you 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.
Nah, it wasn't above the spine. I've dropped deer in their tracks by hitting them in the spine - between that and butchering them myself, I know where the spine is. The hit was lower than the spine, that is the amazing part of that hit. I saw the scab and it couldn't have been a spine hit. I never put much stock in the void myth, until I saw the scab on that buck and where it was.