I would have to agree with Zac. A shot which takes out the top of the heart or the aorta is the best. One is damaging the muscles the animal runs on and the pump. This is a great shot if one is using the proper (re: not a varmint weight bullet in a small caliber) bullet. If one takes out the central nervous system, one has instant death, but the targets are small and difficult to hit. The heart shot takes out the lungs from most angles and causes loss of consciousness in a matter of seconds. Lung shots can hit either of the other systems by accident. Without striking large bones, the lung hit deer is going to go farther. I can talk about this because I have had graduate level classes in anatomy, physiology and pathology. While in school, the cardiac physiology professor was an avid hunter. His viewpoint was, lung hit for archery and heart shot for rifle. The reason being was one couldn't be as precise with an arrow. His view so the bow hunters need to hunt him down to argue with. He also liked using his 45/70 for deer with a large meplat. He view was kinetic energy didn't foretell the killing effect as well as a lagrge bullet blowing through and leaving a blood trail which looked as though it was laid by a bucket. We talked at length and I liked what he had to say. He hunted as often with a shotgun as a rifle. Blow out the heart, it causes hypoxia much quicker.

Dr Fatguy