My experience and research has lead me to try like hell to put the bullet just behind where front leg meets the body but for a scooch lower. I dont have as many deer harvest under my belt as you obviously but the 3 I've hit there poured blood on the trail and they were down within 50 yards. I've hit a couple higher on the chest cavity and ended up with zero blood and a deer that ran almost 100 yards and no blood trail for the first 50 yards. My theory is the internal bleeding starts exiting the entrance wound as the blood fills the cavity....so lower entrance wounds start spilling blood faster than higher ones (unless you nail an artery then it's pumping put hard....seen one of mine Do that on a quartering shot where the exit was in the neck artery area up higher). I don't know maybe I'm way off base.....but the ones I've hit lower on the body started pouring blood much faster on the track than higher hits in my limited experience.
Lower body hits always bleed better. Gravity. In the archery world you always want a pass thru that exits the lower half of the deer's chest preferably around the armpit or brisket.
Bullets when used properly kill by shock first and blood loss second. In my experience of killing about 100 deer, If you shoot a deer in the lungs with a rifle or shotgun, it will go twice as far as a deer shot in both lungs with a sharp broadhead. Because the bullet cauterizes the wound partly, and there is no shock applied to the animal as its a thru and thru. The sharp broadhead promotes a bunch more blood loss, and deer dies within a few seconds. Where I've seen double lung shot deer with a shotgun still on their feet after a few minutes. I shot one that climbed a wicked slope up to a ridge, and when I got to it, it was wandering in circles confused from blood loss, and I had to shoot it again. I fully believe if I double lunged that same deer with an arrow it wouldn't have made it up the slope.
Hence whatever round or caliber your using in a high powered rifle. Shoot for the neck/shoulder/spine intersection. The deer will die by the shock of having its neck or back, broken by a whiplash effect of that round hitting solid bone. The shoulders will be immobilized and the deer will generally drop on sight or snowplow and not go far. You won't be bloodtrailing. When I use a gun, I want nothing to do with hittng a deer in the lungs and bloodtrailing, because it won't bleed that much usually. Also the fact that the orange army is usually out there waiting to steal your prize after the sound of your gunshot. First knife in the deer and all....but that's a separate issue.
I do also think a soft point bullet is the best of the whitetail rounds because it both penetrates and mushrooms to shock the animal. Thin skinned animals like deer and stuff its a good bullet. Personally a 30-06 is overkill for me, any core lok soft point, 100 grain, or better, .243 or caliber or better, going around 3000 fps put in the right place will knock the shit out of a deer.
