Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What is the appeal of DRT?

Now THAT'S funny.
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That is funny <g>.

I've never been able to scroll by Azshoother's handle here on the fire without doing a doubletake- not a knock on AZ, whom I really like, just... always catches my dirty little mind's eye <g>.

Can't speak to a THS, but I will let a buck walk before I ever shoot one in the meat of the ass again. What a MESS.

The only shot that causes me regret is in the backstrap. It's a DRT shot for sure, but oh the cost!

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Here's one I lunged last week, then had to crack one through his shoulder to keep him from going where I didn't want to have to deal with him.. Hardly any meat loss.

I like this photo not much on antler, but LOTS of meat.

Here's one from the week before I lunged twice, then got sick of him just standing there in discomfort, so I broke his shoulders.. I should have just shot him in the ass though.

My regret, was not a huge weighing of guilt on my conscience . I just regretted loss of loin meat, which, I find to be the most desireable. I never lost sleep over it. I didn't wish to imply that to feel regret one must weep or seek absolution. If I'm in a situation where I say, "damn, I wrecked some of the loin", then yes, I think regret is the appropriate word, even if you find it funny. You guessed right, the front shoulders don't yield a lot of meat. I too discovered this several hundred deer ago; but, they still yield meat. Like I tried to state in my prior posts, I'm not judging anybody, I would just like input from others.

Come on.. it is sorta funny, you gotta admit. But the funniest part of this thread is this..

I shoot to bust both shoulder blades. I want DRT.

Easy for me to say why. I am blue/green and red/orange color blind. That is to say my red and oranges tend to look a lot alike.

While I can track many animals that aren't dropping blood, do it where I hunt is difficult. I have seen as many as 18 deer in one night on the same location. Try and discern a hit deer in that jumble of overturned leaves, dirt and hoof prints is darn near impossible.

While blood on show is easy to follow - aiming for the shoulder is so instinctive with a rifle - I tend to do so regardless of snow condition.

Don't take it as an offense.. just kidding around. I'm a bit anal myself.. I have a habit of continously wiping my kitchen counter with a dish rag.. even when it's clean.

I've gotten dozens of DRTs from behind the shoulder broadside shots on medium sized critters. Quite common around here on our small deer.

I find this to happen moreso when fast expansive bullets are used. You may find this strange, but I've even dropped deer with poor shot placement such as liver or high lung shots. Yes, I've had my fair share run off, but DRTs are very common in medium game IME.

I have a theory that many will probably disagree with. I feel the shock of the impact gives a temporary paralization, the deer folds, and is dead before it's body regains control. The reason I say that is because several of them quiver, twitch, or flop a bit after they fall.

I will say that when I've used or witnessed medium game shot with hard premium bullets with no CNS or bones hit, they seem to run far more than when taken with fast expansive bullets that deliver more damage.

Good Luck

loder

I once waited for a bull elk to reach a level spot on the east side of Hells Canyon before taking my shot. Seemingly oblivious to the hit, he took 3 steps and fell over. Those 3 steps let him slide about 400 yards downslope. I wish he had been DRT.

Ya think????

I haven't seen as many downed deer as some, but in the ones I did see the loin meat wasn't in the DRT end.

Greenhorn, what caliber is that Mountain Rifle LSS? Pardon me if I've asked that before <g>. I have one just like it. As well as a 30-06 that used to be a MR but now has a heavier (sporter) barrel but still the same stock.

I love that MR LSS stock!

-jeff

I want to eat the beast not torture it.I was in NM about 10 years ago hunting Antelope with a group that included a female gun mag writer.
it was very windy,I was using a mod 7 in 308 with a bi pod and she was using a custom 257 bob,I took my shot at 216 yds broke both shoulders and popped the heart,1 n done.
this ding a ling was shooting off hand at over 400 yds with a major cross wind fired 8 shot's

1- shot in the ass
2- took off the tip of the left horn
3 miss
4- miss
5- left front leg
reloading, I ask her "WTF?" does this thing owe you money?
6- middle spine
7- left hinds
8- gut shot
the guide show's up and says what are you doing? rides a quad to it and put's it out of it's misery,if that doesn't make you want to make every shot DRT I don't know what will.
DRT is not an ego thing it's an ethics thing.

Obviously you have never hunted in Pa. In some parts it is entirely impossible to get more than 1 and a half miles from away from a road. There are other places where you won't get more than a few hundred yards from a road.

I am one of those million plus Pa deer hunters. We hunt one State game lands section that is 3500 acres, and there are several public roads that dissect that property. The Property our club owns is only 65 acres and we lease another 300. We are bordered by private property on all sides that crawl with hunters. As for what makes a"DRT" shot more attractive over a typical lung heart shot, well I think there is a very strong argument. In an area such as PA, there is a very real probability that if you don't drop a der instantly, or atleast within a couple hundred feet you may very well find yourself on someone else' property and there is no guarantee that you will be allowed access to retrieve that deer. We routinely take shoulder shots to anchor deer more quickly just for the above reason.

If you haven't seen a well hit deer travel more than 100-150 yards, you haven't hunted highly pressured deer very much. Last year we tracked a doe that had been hit high in the right front shoulder for almost a mile. When we found her and gutted her 1 lung was collapsed and the liver was shredded, and the heart torn. Deer energized by adrenaline are phenomenal creatures, and are capable of very surprising feats.

As far as hunters in Pa being lazy I think you should come out here and hunt. Yes there are lazy hunters here and I try every year to send everyone I come in contact with back to Philly or New Jersey. Most hunters I run into fall into 2 groups. 1 being the group who comes out on the first couple of days and just enjoys being in the woods, he stays out in a stand for a couple of hours then comes back for a nap and something to eat and maybe BS with the other guys in camp for a while then goes back to his stand for the eveining. He gets together with buddies on Saturdays and do deer drives all day. The second are the guys who hunt every hour of every day possible. These guys hunt hard, and cover as much ground as possible, even if it means covering the same ground often by different methods.
Honestly in my opinion Tagging a big buck on public land in Pennsylvania is perhaps one of the hardest things to accomplish in all of deer hunting

ADK4Rick.. that's sounds like an impressive show. Was she going for the lungs or the shoulders?

Sometimes those DRTs don't work out.. here's one that ran around along side a county road while the archer tried to get a 2nd arrow in it for an hour or so.. I'm sure it rivals your lady rag writer.

Live by this motto or learn otherwise..

This poor devil took 4 TSXs through both lungs before toppling a month ago... If you are hunting with those kinds of bullets, I think shoulders are a prerequisite..

What caliber, and more importantly, what bullet do you shoot. It's hard to imagine not have a few DRTs even with lung shot with any bullets. Of the lung shot deer I've taken, I'd say about 50% have been DRT and the rest made it no more than 60 yards. I'm not sure why you haven't seen any DRT's with lung hits as I get them all the time and so do the rest of my buddies, but then again, we just shoot run of the mill cup and core ballistic tips, interlocks and core-lokts. We don't shoot copper bullets or partitions. The rest of my DRT's have been neck shots, shoulder shots (which also take out lungs) and one head shot. I'd say a DRT is a little more humane than having the animal 50-75 yards in a state of panic.

Well - the one was an arrow.

The others (all this season) were TSX bullets. And there were 3 other animals I believe, none dropped with a direct lung bullseye, although one pronghorn doe made a 90 yard death sprint.

I've dropped a pile of animals with other bullet types and lung hits.. but the TSX is not typical. I'm switching back to 200 grain accubombs next year.. I've had explosive results with them.

I believe that's the sign of a hunter too cheap to buy a meat grinder.