Shoulders can be a great place to put a bullet in the right situation or a terrible place, depending on a lot of factors you can't always control..

About 3 years ago my brother and I were hunting cow elk and came across a couple traipsing through the woods. I got to a vantage point first and a cow popped it's head out, but it was downhill from us fairly steeply. I shot aiming for the shoulder and the elk ran off and led us for a long chase of at least a mile, leaving a scant blood trail. When we finally caught up to her and ended the chase, I found the 338 WM placed the 225 Partition exactly where I aimed, but it deflected along the shoulder blade and came out the bottom of the belly, below any vital organs but did rupture the lungs only slightly on the lowest edge. Almost no meat damage and we got lucky and she fell about a half mile from a road and my other brother, son, and nephew were available to help drag it out. Had a similar experience with my son's 300 H&H AI on an elk a few days later shooting 180 Hornady Interlocks. Never did find that one and I was watching when the bullet hit the shoulder at a quartering away shot. The ripples of the bullet impact started at the shoulder and went all the way to her back hips and the blood trail was enormous but obviously not sufficient damage to vital organs. We searched for miles with everyone in camp (6 of us) ...

I prefer to put them in the lungs, but sometimes you take the shot that is presented to you...

Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability.