I just got the 4 pencil holes report, but was told the guide specifically told them to not shoot thru the shoulders. Was also told they were lucky to have recovered one of them, had he made the wrong turn, they were certain he would have been lost, instead he went to a clearing.

Both whitetail died, but, in the past when using a soft point bullet, the deer collapsed onto their legs, these deer ran. They were shot thru the shoulder and exited the ribs, that is a failure of the bullet

Im not convinced the deer running is a failure of the bullet at all.

I shot a 180 lb buck a week ago with a 175 eldx and I was pleased with its performance. quarter to 50 cent piece sized exit wound the bullet made a wound channel but didn't disintegrate and leave an exit the size of a softball.

I think there is a lot of variability in what people consider good bullet performance. Some want maximum destruction, I prefer through and through penetration and an adequate wound channel and exit to blood trail if necessary. To me weather a deer/animal runs at the shot is more a function of shot placement than the bullet or caliber used.

Seems weird to me. I am not trying to dispute what you said or why you said it, and I understand why you are saying it, but I never expect a bullet to crumple a deer, I always expect it to run and then we can get a recovery. I don’t understand why that’s a fault of the bullet. Every bullet I have shot does exactly what you described, and that is kill deer. I personally have never shot a deer with a gun and not recovered. I did witness that just last weekend with a doe and a federal fusion bullet out of a 308, and this was a close range shot (approx 40-50 yards). Figured the doe would be right around the corner behind some tall grass, and when we got there, no deer. We started taking a track and followed scant blood followed by big blow outs of blood, followed by scant blood (I mean one bitty drop on a leaf) and followed that trail for at least 400 yards before it simply vanished. I personally saw the shot and for the life of me thought that was a dead doe. We never recovered it.
So was that a bullet failure, or just a bad shot or combination of both?
That same weekend my 300wsm & eld-x 200gr got its first blood and the doe it hit crumpled right there. A little over 100 yard shot. I didn’t do any kind of necropsy on that animal, but might consider that just to see what the bullet is doing. Hope to take a few more doe this holiday season with that gun.

Transfer of energy and disruption of the central nervous system are what I want to see. I have shot deer with a 180gr Super-X power point(soft point) and the hole going in was the size of my pinky and the exit hole was the size of my thumb after passing thru two shoulders, deer fell within his tracks at about 140yds.

I don't want a huge wound channel, a bullet that fragments or one that fails to expand.

I like bullets like the Speer Hot-Cor, Hornady BTSP Interlock, or even the old Core-Lokt, bullets that expand and retain the majority of their weight.