I'm glad you found your buck! Damned nice of you to hook up your grandpa like that.
I just (New Years Eve) lost a doe a few days ago because I went after her too soon. I do know better, but as I watched her run back into the thicket, I heard what I believed to be her crashing about 50yrds in, then everything was silent. You can't "always" judge how bad a deer is hit by the amount of blood you see. Looking at this blood I thought for sure I was going to find a dead deer, but after tracking her for about 3/4 mile, I believe this deer actually survived! .