A good article John. Thank you.
For my part I like the shot through the shoulderblade on deer, when it is on offer, as a means of putting the animal on the deck right there. As you say, you tend to have bone fragments augmenting the effect, and there's a number of important structures behind the shoulderblade on a deer, including spine, major blood vessels and the nerve junction just below the spine here (axillary plexus). Sure, you do damage a bit of meat, but that is better than having an animal run off and possibly be lost, or at least take some finding.
Through the cervical spine in the neck's another. I think you might have said previously that you aren't a fan, but I've found it very effective on a range of game up to buffalo.There's rather less margin for error than a chest shot though, so it isn't always the best option. I prefer the base of the neck more than the head end for most purposes, but sometimes higher is what is available - a deer bedded down with its head up, or going away with its head up, for example.
For game the size of pigs, goats and deer I prefer bullets which open fairly fast. Winchester Power Points and Remington CorLokt and that sort of thing. The ones I've used seem to have enough integrity to do the job, even on shots through bone on animals up to the size of red deer, and they'll cause impressive amounts of damage even if just slipped through the ribs. I've found tougher bullets can perform rather less effectively. I don't expect them to go through a deer from stern to stem, nor do I much care whether they exit or not. Exiting is a bit moot if the animal's down and dead right there.
