Nice buck indeed.

If I am reading the account of your story correct it would seem doubtful to me whether or not your buddy could have got close enough to a buck like this without it being hurt pretty bad. You didn't give much detail as to how the killing shot was made but I know this, if I was your buddy and I finished off a buck knowing that you had wounded it in such a way that I could trail it, catch up to it, and get off a reasonably close shot, I would not feel like the buck was mine.