RE: A Specific .30-06 Question
Sling,
I once posted about making a shot similiar to yours. Bullet goes in behind right shoulder, angles through the lungs and busts out the left shoulder. Deer takes off on three legs, quite far before I could find it. Left a blood trail a blind man could follow every time the deer exhaled, blood sprayed out of the wounds.
On that same day, I did something I had done once before with these same results. Shot another doe through the base of the neck as it trotted behind my stand. That 'ol doe stopped like it hit an invisible wall. This must be the sweet spot, where neck ajoins the body. Who else has luck with that area? I think I'm done with lung shots, too iffy and I hate all that tracking.
What did I learn? Shoulder shots don't always stop 'em. Turning lungs to jello won't always drop 'em. I use 30-06 150gr Speer flat points for faster expansion and maximum damage, would use a roundnose if flats weren't available. No need for pointy boattail aerodynamics because my shots are always under 65 yards.
We also find that discount bullets like the Corelokts almost need a bone hit to expand, the jackets must be too thick. I know a few that converted to Nosler ballistic tips because of poor results with 'em, saying that Corelokts are only good for plinking beer cans. That's why Premium bullets fetch a higher price, and ya get what cha pays for :-)