My guess is that the former is much less common than the latter. After getting a complete pass through yesterday on a cull buck three inches above where the front leg bends at the shoulder, I will no longer by trying to tuck the arrow tight behind the shoulder. The deer ran all of forty yards before piling up in sight of the tripod I was sitting.

I always try to put my arrow about 2 inches behind the shoulder. I like popping lungs.

That's the golden triangle on any animal, but its a small target on a WT. Where I try to aim depending on animals stance. Try to shoot for opposite arm pit

Thats the best shot there is

I had a full-grown whitetail doe feeding at 32 yards in October this year. The deer was facing towards my left with her head down and not a care in the world. Setting in a ground blind, I came to full draw and she never looked up as she was standing almost perfectly broadside to me. I took aim at her left side heart and released the arrow.

Things happen fast after you release an arrow but I saw her do a 180 and exit the feeder pin directly behind where she was standing. It looked to me like I had hit her in the rump as she cleared the fence and headed directly away from me. I was stunned that I could have missed the heart shot by three or more feet. Then it occurred on me that the lighted nock was sticking out of her RIGHT side rump. She ran less than 40 yards and fell dead.

To make a long story short, after I released the arrow that doe turned completely around and was headed the other way before the arrow could travel 32 yards. I got lucky and hit a major blood vain and the Grim Reaper did enough damage that she bleed to death in short order.

I am convinced that a deer can move lighten fast when they hear the arrow leave the bow. Some of the bad shots make may not be bad shots after all; it just may be a superfast deer attempting to escape the noise they hear.