Different strokes for different folks for sure. Firstly I believe your first priority should be the certain recovery of your animal and wasted meat secondary. On many animals, shoulder or lung shots don' t produce a lot of wasted meat anyway--especially deer and bear. And if you really think about your shoulder shot, you really are talking about hitting a leg bone, not the scapula. That, then makes for a small target. Further, hitting a leg bone can easily drive bone shards into the meat you' re trying to save. Whereas, the lung shot ups the percentage of having a substantial blood trail for tracking while bleeding out the animal at the same time. Ergo, better eating meat. Thats my take on it. Always will be a lung and vitals shooter.