I am not an expert in shot placement, but I know for sure that any bullet has to do some considerable damage to put an animal down, especially if the adrenaline-level of the animal is already high. Even more so with African Big Game, as all African hunters know. Therefore a shot placed "on the shoulder" will drop the quarry when the spine is smashed, which happens when the neck of the scapula (collum scapulae) is hit. I very much like Kevin Robertsons excellent book on the theme, which enables the interested hunter to develop a three-dimensional picture of the vital organs inside the animal, in my opinion a "must" for every ethical hunter. In this book You can easily see that a shot on the point of the shoulder of a broadside standing lion or leopard will miss the chest cavity. So if You don`t smash both shoulder joints to pieces there might be a problem waiting for You in the thick stuff. Since I have read this book I try to go for the top of the heart and cut all those nice blood vessels, which will destroy usually the lungs as well, so the follow up will be short and end standing at a dead animal.

Kalunga

Use enough gun !