Not sure what I would have done. If you could do it over I would have waited longer to give the deer more chance to bleed out closer to where it was shot, the damned if you do is it also gives them a chance to quit bleeding. With three people one should stay at the last sign found and the others should circle in an increasing radius until more sign is found. If alone I leave some type of marker and work out from it. I lost one a couple of years ago in head high grass that I would have found if I had circled more. But my flashlight was not very good and I found him like you about forty yards from where I had stopped but the meat was a total loss.

Nice buck and if the kid is sharp he should have learned several valuable lessons even though it is a drag the deer got torn up.

"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli