I've done DRT this whole season. I use a 66' Blue Moon 24-strand rope by Yale I got from Wesspur on clearance--they were out of Predator at the time--Blue Moon works great for me, although I wish I had 75ft. There's other color combos that sell under different names (Poison Ivy) . It's 11.7mm, so you can really grab onto it, knots well, slides well, and holds up well. It's bright blue, but I coil all the loose length into my pack once I'm up at height, and leave the carabiner/knots dangling at knee level in case something slips and I need to clip back in at a lower height than planned. I had originally planned on getting Predator to replace it at some point, but have since decided not to bother. I haven't tried other ropes, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Blue Moon is excellent for DRT.
I've toyed with the idea of leaving the climbing rope clipped into the bridge during the hunt, but the extra clutter doesn't appeal to me.
I would really like a spliced eye at one end of the climbing rope as it would make getting the rope (or restoring my pre-set loop) over the limb a lot less perilous. Sucks when your throw line (or the loop that you leave for next time) slides off the climbing rope and everything, both rope and cord, lands in a pile at your feet. Watch some arborist vids on how to set up a DRT climb to see how they attach the climbing rope to cordage--a string of simple hitches is going to frequently disappoint.
I use a 2mm UHMWPE red cord as a throw line (emmakites on amazon). 1000lb test, doesn't stretch, has no memory, and it's slick, so a 12oz throw ball will drop easy through all kinds of crap. I keep it flaked out in a small canvas tote which folds nicely into a large wallet sized package, and I have nothing bad to say about this cord. For a while I was using a 12oz fishing weight as a throw ball--gotta be careful with that though as that will bounce if you hit the tree trunk. Watch some videos on how to toss underhand and practice a little.
One of the things I've learned about throwing is that accuracy is not necessarily important. A lot of times, I'm able to huck it way up, and then pull the throw ball over the highest branch, and it'll drop onto the next branch below it, and so on, until the rope is down on the limb I want. On my first couple strolls through the woods, I only spotted a handful of trees that I could get a line into; now I see them everywhere.
Word of caution here--whenever you're pulling the throw ball up and it's ready to clear a branch, be ready to feed it lots of slack--if it decides to swing when it clears, it will almost certainly loop itself. And then that nice throwing line ain't coming back. Same goes with the throw line around your feet--make sure it's not going to snag when the ball is in motion.
I carry a set of 4 primal steps (2-3 get used as my perch), and if there's un-prunable limbs in the way, I'll climb as high as I can, deploy a step w/ lineman's belt (or simply set the tether), re-route the climbing rope (undo, then re-tie the Blake hitch), and then keep climbing (grab the step at the end of the hunt)
I don't mind throwing in the dark. But I don't like doing it after the leaves are gone b/c it's hard to tell if you're looking at a healthy limb. I've done pine trees, but they have to have needles and I apply a higher standard of beefy-ness. If you google "tree climbers guide" there's a forest service manual that has a section on what to watch out for as far as indications of weakness in the tree.
First couple times, I had problems getting the Blake hitch to hold weight. Dress each coil, and do it twice, working out all the little bits of slack. I tried using a tended Blake hitch (where you tie a second hitch or use a device so that the hitch moves up on its own), but ditched that as it took longer to set up and didn't really seem all that useful.
What I really like about DRT is that it's super simple, and your weight is fully supported by a 5800lb rope all the way into the tether. My last minute safety check before climbing/descending is to take off anything looped around my neck, make sure the carabiner is locked, check the tag end for a stopper knot, and put on a set of leather gloves.
