Went to africa in august of 2010. "Body" shots to vitals are placed further forward on the animals. The vitals shots are placed directly above the shoulder joint. The PH's made sure we all knew that prior to making any shots. I dont know why, but, it seems the vitals are different on those animals. I took my trusty 30-06 and used 180 gr. Hornady SST. I had read reviews on these bullets that suggested that they often lose their jacket at impact velocities greater than 2500 fps, and that if bullet impacts an animal at that velocity that there is usually no pass through. It was my experience that they were correct. I really didnt care about meat damage (as you cant bring any home) just good kills. Anybody that has been knows that "if they find blood, then you pay for it!" All my shots were on plains game, and all "body shots". Every shot exept one did not have an exit wound, but all kills nonetheless. The only pass through was a 150 yd shot on a zebra that ran about 50 yds before falling dead. All animals did run a little bit after the shot, but all were just as dead. I chose to shoot vitals because it was a safer shot to me when money was on the line, and trust me there was quite a bit of money on the line.

My hunting partner was able to take a giraffe. He was instructed to shoot about 4 inches down the neck below the skull. He was using a borrowed 375 H&H mag. His shot was perfect and sent the very large beast to the ground with one shot. There was no pass through, and a head shot was needed to complete the kill. He was told that a body shot was difficult because of the thickness of the skin. I would never have believed just how thick the skin was until the skinners started the skinning. Wow! must have been 2 inches thick! PH's said usually requires several shots if going to the body, and you really dont want to chase this dude as he can cover some ground. Whole thing had to be dressed right where it fell, as it was too big to put in a truck...except in pieces.

I believe the shot placement is completely up to the shooter as he considers his conditions and his ability coupled with the particular animal being hunted.

Bassman