Shots placed high in the chest or shoulder, above the center line/curve of the body take longer to provide a blood trail, regardless of what you hit them with. Might not even get one if the deer falls fairly quickly, and they can travel pretty far in short order. A hit low in the chest takes out the heart, major vessels, and gets lungs too, and the blood flow starts quickly because the holes are low and the chest doesn’t have to fill up. Partition exit holes are small because the front end blows off, leaving the shank. If the innards are soup, the bullet expanded. A conventional soft-point may give you a big burping exit wound, but also may not give one at all, even in a larger heavier caliber. No deer I’ve hit low has gone more than 100 yards, most fell within 50 feet, and Andrea Bocelli could follow the blood trails with one eye closed.
If you want to shoot ‘em high, go high enough to break the spine and drop them right there, but that gets tricky with angled shots.
