ORIGINAL: mufan
I think it is a matter of determining what we are calling the shoulder. Tell me if this is correct......The scapula is connected to the shoulder joint which is connected to the elbow. The three together make a > shape. If this is correct then I always thought the elbow was the shoulder. So I thought the best place to shoot it was right behind the elbow which I thought was the shoulder. Actually, I know a whole bunch of misguided people who think that way as well.
I'd say your incorrect. What your calling an elbow is what I call a joint that defines in combination what makes up the shoulder. The "shoulder" isn't defined by a joint, a bone but the combination of joints, bones, muscles and tendons not unlike our own. The front legs do not join the whitetails trunk (body) by a joint. Anyone that has skinned, and butchered a whitetail knows this. You can removed the front leg without cutting a single "bone/joint" but by simply slicing the mucles from the back/underside of the leg (shoulder). They do not have a ball and socket joint like we do.
The Scapula followed by the bone, joint and next bone joint make up the shoulder along with the muscles necessary to hold it all together and joins the leg/shoulder to the trunk. Above this is spine and air, through it and behind it is where the major organs lie.