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

Or....

DULM




Also a great way to process deer

Sorry.. Couldn't help myself

Me three!

Dober

Oh, My Lab Mutt is wondering just what in the hell happened to the rest of the deer that he just saw 20 minutes ago in the back of HIS truck. He walked around for 5 minutes trying to figure out what was going on

What kinda mower velocity are you getting?

26 1/2" steaks per minute

And all the bones and hair get sucked into the bag.

I just have my wife and kids stand there with freezer paper in old baseball mitts... Rocky the Amazing Dumbazz Wundermutt takes care of wrapping and taping, since he doesn't have thumbs

The only time I DON'T want DRT is when the animal gets shot and then runs closer to the truck.

I think you will get a better chance of DRT on a deer sized animal if you use relatively light rapidly expanding bullets. In .30 caliber I used to hunt pronghorns with 150 grain GameKings and they worked fine. One DRT but that was CNS.

But there's also much to be said about leaving an exit hole, not because it leaves a better blood trail but because it lets air into the lung cavity faster, causing quicker lung collapse, and the animal won't run as far.

To get the best of both worlds, I now use Nosler Partitions.

You mean I'm not the only ignorant, unenlightened, moron that thinks its the best prenium bullet going?

I've never been one of the "Weight Retention" junkies... When you blow the front core apart on a Partition, you didn't WASTE that energy.

Well, I can say that DRT means a lot to me and always has. In NM and MT, where I hunted most of my life, an animal running very far meant packing them out of some steep azz canyon.

Here in WI, public land is small and full of other hunters. I hunted 2 areas last Saturday for opener and saw 25 other hunters that morning on 1 sq mi of public land. That afternoon I saw 7 on 120 acres. Saw 1 deer way down in a ravine at 7:00 am. Didn't shoot cause there was no shot, only movement in the thick trees. Not even sure if it was a doe or buck.

Thursday I hunted a private 40 acres consisting of mature woods with a deep ravine through the middle from one corner to the other. Sat on a stool against a big oak just far enough down the hill to see into the ravine in both directions.

Right after legal shooting, heard a shot from my left about a quarter mile away, figured it was on the neighboring 40, which sports a house. 10 minutes later a 4 pt buck (the first deer I saw that I could get a shot on) walked into sight from behind the shoulder of the hill to my left. I shot him, DRT. In at the base of the neck, out behind the far shoulder. I never moved after the shot, hoping a doe or two might come in. Ten or fifteen minutes later, a hunter walked through on the opposite hill, left to right, about 2/3 of the way across the 40. He stopped and stood for a while, then crossed the ravine and headed back uphill toward the road. As far as I knew he was trespassing, but I was the only one on the place and had no right to challenge him. Besides, I would have followed a deer I wounded as well. The funny thing is, I never saw or heard a deer move through there ahead of him. It must have done so, the blood was very fresh, but I never heard it and I heard my buck coming a few steps at a time for a full minute or more before he appeared.

I tagged my buck and dragged him to the gully bordering the other road, gutted him, and headed out.

I came back later and found the spot the other guy had stopped. Sure enough, he lost a blood trail there. I backtracked it up the hill to the neighboring 40, went back and picked it up 50 yards or so from where he gave up, and followed it down to the corner of the lot into some big oak and tall grass, hoping it had gone in there to hole up.

No such luck. The deer crossed the road and went onto private land I had no permission to hunt, so I shook my head and left.

If he had broken bone, that deer would be hanging in his yard or someone's cooler right now, instead of feeding coyotes after finally bleeding out and expiring. I might have even gotten it, was hoping to in fact. Better that than waste it on coyotes. If my deer had run, I would have found myself arguing with the guy over it, since he naturally would have assumed it was the same deer he was trailing.

DRT rules IMHO, no matter where one hunts. That's my take, YMMV.

I have never worried about it too much. In the latter years I tend to hunt where it is not so nasty. There are some times when I chose to just put the safety back on if it seems there is a likely hood of the animal going somewhere I don't want it too. Soemtimes even if they are DRT,they still travel. A few years ago I shot a cow elk and she tipped right over. Problem was,she was on the edge of a steep hill and slid dwon about 300 yds bfeore getting stopped by a tree. I was able to climb down and quarter her,but to get the mules to her,I had to ride around the mounatin about 2 miles and then side hill about a 1/2 mile

I can't remember them all,but there is certainly not even close to 1000 deer as the guy from SC, probbaly not even 100,but I can only remember one going very far and it was bad shot placement. Same as two elk.
I can't remember any pronghorn going over 10 yds.

Mostly I chose the double lunger, but have found if you catch them a little far back, they don't go down quickly as I expierenced with one cow elk I hit with 50 cal maxi ball.She went about 300yds.

I do think DRT is highly desireable, but I don't get all choked up about it.

Here is one elk which if it would have gone 100 yds would have saved me a lot of trouble getting it out of downfall. Now dasy,I would let it walk.

Off memory, DRTs on deer:

6.5x55 3 with 120 corelokts (neck, lung, spine), 1 with 130 Abond Double Lung
270 1 with 150 btip spine
6BR 2 with 105 amax Head shot, spine shot
260 Used two loads that out of state hunt...either ballistic tip 100gr or 129 SP but was lung shot, have to look at records to confirm

357 Rifle 158jsp spine

7BR rifle 130 speer SP spine running
7/08 139 sp neck>spine facing
243 1 with 70gr tnt Neck shot
338/06 1 200 Btip neck/shoulder juncture
Son's deer 243 85BTHP spine

Most deer I had DRT were CNS hits= head/neck but some body shots. Possible some of those the shock 'hydrostatic' etc. disrupted the CNS.

Majority of other deer double lunged and average 30-60yds to fall.

DRT is what I hope for, DROP RIGHT THERE if not DEAD RT as I can relax in comfort, that I have no tracking or risk of losing an animal I respect, and because I respect them I want as quick and humane kill as possible.

I hate shooting shoulders, etc. due to meat damage.

It is to be expected as above, an animal if not CNS hit, will survive a minimal time on O2 in Blood even if heart not pumping, but what is left is quickly burned up, and C02 rises fast, lights out if bleeding well.

TOO many variables and there are generalities but sometimes WELL hit animals with good cartridges hitting with good velocity and good bullets, just do not want to give up the ghost. Those times, a generous exit hole i.e. a 358 will give you a blood trail easier to follow (and I too am color blind) vs a 243 with a partition that expands to small to marginal frontal area-and leaves a much smaller exit.

At the end of the day, I still believe SHOT PLACEMENT rules, re: of other variables. If good placement is suspect, the hunter has the free will to hold fire for a better shot....or another day.

Thomas I think perhaps for the guys who practice more, they are better shots on average, and perhaps using bullets that hedge their bets towards achieving higher % of DRTs so it is talked about alot, but not obtaining them is not a reason to apologize nor for anyone to criticize others.

I Do get a high level of satisfaction when I see an animal Drop in their tracks, and am encouraged to do it as often as I can, with controlling what variables I can control. I think many others share that goal.

you boys are screwing up


sooner or later you're going to run into the same problems with NP's that I have.


you're skinning a critter find part of your bullet, and yep it'll hit you like a ton of bricks.......BULLET failure



I'd be embarrassed to tell you how many times that's happened!

and oh year I mucho prefer DRT to DWL

+1 It is up to the person behind the gun.

That's a freakin' horse man. My goodness.