Hank, nice mature buck. "things happen" but you got your buck !! .....Shoulder shots instantly put them down for an instant kill ?? Maybe an anatomy lesson would help .Perhaps a spine shot but the last deer I shot with a 45-70, 300 Nosler ,smashed the shoulder joint ,took out the lungs and kept going . The deer ran 50 yds !

I'm with Doc - I'll take a bang-flop kill everytime.

But what truly amazes me is the amount of "Bang " that a whitetail can absorb before the "Flop" part of the equation kicks in. The tenacity for life that I have seen some whitetails exhibit is simply astonishing.