ORIGINAL: Ridge Runner
hydrostatic shock does kill, the best way to achieve this is by using a light for caliber bullet at high velocity, and hit in the point of most resistance, the scapula (shoulder blade) on impact fluid displacement causes the blood to be pushed backwards through the major blood vessels, and a massive shock wave travels up the spine to the brainstem all of which overwhelms the central nervous system causing all systems to shut down immediately.
The calibers most known for this on average sized deer are the 243,25/06, 6.5's, and 270's, with lighter bullets. as the size of deer goes up, the bullet weight does also.
just my experience in 40 years of deer hunting.
RR
To go along with RR. I read an article about why game is sometimes DRT and sometimes not with the same shot. It took the research of two vets in Africa that were culling the population of a buffalo herd with a .338 (most would say small for a buff). They would shoot all in the same Heart lung area and some would collapse on the spot some would run. They would then examine the carcass and proform and autopse. What they found was when the bullet impacted at the moment of a heart beat a sudden spike in blood pressure was cause resulting in all the blood vessels in the brain expolding and a DRT buffalo.