Guys there is no perfect shot on game, because when it happens it might not happen again. I used to kill critters in pretty significant numbers almost any month of the year, that was part of the game agency job I had. I got down to shooting systems, close shots were aimed at the nervous system (neck, brain, spine). Farther out I simply went for the respiratory/circulatory systems - hit the sucker in the chest hard and he would die. Always preferred a bullet I knew would go through, Partitions did that so I shot them a lot - but frequently the exit was not very large. Nature of the bullet. Rear shots were acceptable so I needed a penetrating bullet that would not break-up, but wanted as much penetration as possible to get past the diaghragm and hopefully wreck the lungs and maybe even exit. Nice to find bullets but nicer to find the critter dead on the spot or at the end of an easy to trail blood trail. This info is for ungulates, they can't do you as much harm as bears.
Bears are a totally different matter. Still want exits, bigger the better to a degree - did not want to spoil a prime hide sometimes, most of the bears I killed were summer bears that needed killing so hides were not a consideration. Very simple - you break the scapula or you bust the neck, or send one down the ear canal - we are talking nervous system, nothing else will do it as far as control of the critter. No lung shots, simple as that since I don't enjoy tracking bears. 210 Noslers from my trusty old Sako .338 did in a lot of bears over the years, did a better job of killing than the 250 Silvertips I started off with. Rear-ender shots are taken just above the tail, sends a hell of a shock up the spine, takes out the back legs. He is not going anywhere quickly.
There have been a lot of opinions shared and that is why we are here. Shoulder shots are not as easy as one thinks, you have to know where the scapula resides for each species. Only one way to find that out, feel for it on a dead critter when it is on its side, also watch the scapula move if possible on live animals. Lungs are a bigger target, and I shoot deer in the lungs in winter siince we usually have good tracking snow - but still much easier to track if there are two holes leaking.
I sometimes shoot to ensure the bullet is recoverable - only sure way is to take the shot on an angle, shoulder to opposite hip, hip to opposite shoulder. When we are testing bullets a pass-through does not help determine what the bullet ended up looking like, how much it weighs, what is left. Oblique shots work well, if you have lots of rifle.
Count me in the pass-through crowd, bigger exit the better. I enjoy finding bullets but there is merit to a pass-through. One theory is the deal where the body's nervous system is divided into two sides, got to get them both to impart maximum shock. A bullet that stops short will not do that as well as one that blasts through - note I said blasts through, not knifes through.
Bullet manufacturers are expected to do miracles - good point-blank performance and equally good performance on a critter stanging over the next county line. Critters are also hugely variable, some will die on the spot from a decent shot placement, others will go to hell and back with a similar shot placement and bullet. Adrenalin has something to do with that, as does relaxation.
I find that getting bullets through deer at longer distances, say out to 700-750 is not too difficult, getting them to SHOCK deer at that range is another story and we are best to use magnums for such a challenge. Hundreds of dead critters have made me believe that there is no perfect bullet, no perfect shot placement, no perfect bullet performance unless the critter is dead where you shot him. Nice when it happens but damned if I can figure out how to do it every time or which bullets might have the best chance of doing it. Terminall ballistics is an interesting study, but we simply can't relate what happens in ballistic gel, wet paper, water, clay or whatever to the living creature we are putting a bullet into - too many variables we cannot control.
How in hell those tiny little bullets kill so well is beyond me...
