I have had excellent results w/ the newer BT's. I too had the poor results w/the first ones, but believe me they are much better now. I have seen them drop 6 elk in the past 2yrs....same bullet you used on your deer, all with great results. I use them exclusively in all my familys whitetail loads from 55gr .22 cals to 150 and 165 in .30 cals. In between we use .243, .270 and .284's. All are for the most part violent one shot kills. Seems the bigger the caliber the more they run....but never far. That is important in heavily hunted areas.
Yes, they mess up some meat, but there is only one stage of dead...and my goal is to get to that stage ASAP and that seems to be best fulfilled w/the Nosler BT's.