[Wyosmith]

Very good questions. Never feel like you should not ask. That's how you learn

The 35 Rem is a fine shell for your southern deer. I would advise to use a big slow bullet. The reason is that the small deer have only so much meat on them, and a faster bullet opens up faster, and will blow a lot more of the small deer up. Makes more blood shot meat.
The best way to hit a deer is through the center of the chest behind the shoulder meat. However in many cases you need to shoot at the animal as the shot is offered. Not all deer will be standing sideways to you.

So.....imagine a large orange as your target. Imagine it's suspended on 2 thin straight sticks. One imaginary stick is going straight up and down; coming out the top of the deer's spins about 4" behind the hump of the back over the shoulders. The other end of that stick is coming down out the bottom of the deer's sternum even with the back sides of the front legs.

Now the other stick is sideways, 40% of the way up the side of the deer's chest from the bottom, and it intersects the 1st stick dead center. Imagine the orange is centered on those two sticks.
If you read this again and imagine that orange suspended on the 2 sticks in your mind, you will start to see it in the "mind's eye".

Aim at the center of the orange!

Never mind the angle of the body. If you shoot a heavy slow bullet that holds together, and you aim at the orange, you will make one shot kills every time. The body can be up hill, down hill, coming, going or sideways. It doesn't matter. You aim at the center of the orange and you’ll have your deer.
Good luck and my God guide you.