Just a couple of thoughts:
4) Bullet strength matters. My first try on a buck was with 200 grain REM PSPCL's. I shot 4 into a buck at 80 yards and he stood there and looked at me. I then went to the SPCL's (round-nosed) and got a reasonable expansion. The PSPCL's were just too strong to open up well on a whitetail. I took at least one deer a year for the next decade with that load.
Interesting. I've only shot black bear with my 350 Rem Mag. After a couple of poor results with the 200 gr. Hornady SP I thought that maybe that bullet/cartridge combination would work well on deer. It lacked the penetration on black bear that I was looking for.
