The Best 5 Rifles for Tracking or Still-Hunting

These kinds of articles tend to be problematic because they are an opinion of one; in this case, mine. Every hardcore hunter has a favorite rifle, and I’m certainly not making judgments on those preferences. I’m not here trying to change minds. I’m simply going to provide three specific rifle characteristics that work in the tracking fields and then demonstrate what 5 rifles best display those qualities in my opinion and experience.

1. Dependability

Every tracker or still-hunter knows that there are certain things that work when hunting the big woods. First, the rifle must be reliable. The boreal forests of the Northeast, the dark timber of the Rockies, the spruce bogs of the Upper Midwest, and the vast forests of Canada, are no place for a rifle that doesn’t work when the going gets tough. Ice buildup, dirt, spruce needles, and water are a constant internal and external companion of the tracking rifle. So I rate dependability as the top requirement of a suitable tracking rifle. If it can’t go bang when the stuff hits the fan, it isn’t a gun you want when tracking a big woods buck.

2. Carry-ability

I’m sure this is not a legit word – but I’m coining it here nonetheless. Carry-ability is not how light a rifle is. Carry-ability is the combination of three things: weight, balance of the rifle, and thickness of the receiver where your hand cradles it. These three factors determine the carry-ability – or the ease with which the gun holds in your hand for 8 or more hours in the field (a solid “tracking day”). As any tracker or hardcore still-hunter knows, this quality is vital.

3. Accuracy

I rate this one last. I realize some might scoff at this. However, there are very few rifles these days that can’t hit within 2 inches at 100 yards (2 MOA).

100 years ago, when many more people relied on game meat for their survival, a 2 MOA rifle was almost unheard of. Not because the barrels were not made correctly, or the quality or hand fitting of actions, barrels, etc., were not of a high caliber; some of the best made rifles ever made came out of that era. Rather, the sights on the rifles of those times as well as the ammunition they were using had limitations. These factors just made these folks better hunters. When you see the game pole pics of yesteryear, it should give us pause to reflect on our own hunting skills more than whether the bullet is going to land one inch this way or that.

Now with that said, occasionally you get a rifle that really can’t shoot for s@#t. If you have one of those, trade it in and get something else. It’s as simple as that. But again, in modern times, with a typical rifle in good condition made in the last 100 years, along with good quality ammo or hand loads, it’s rare that you can’t get a gun to shoot accurately enough to put lead into a pie plate at 100 yards shooting in the standing position. If it does that, you can kill a buck with it tracking or still-hunting. Any 2 MOA rifle will do that in spades if the hunter practices and does his/her part.

All five of the rifles on this list have these three important qualities. There are many other guns that also can be considered good tracking rifles because in the final analysis, it’s whatever rifle you prefer. So if your current gun doesn’t get mentioned, and you’ve used it for years or even decades, don’t assume you need to hang up ‘ole faithful. Sometimes it’s the gun you grew up with that’s the best tracking rifle in the world.

The Bias Created by Following the Experts

This brings up a subject worth discussing briefly – “the bias created by following the experts”. This is the phenomenon of people believing something because it’s in print, or in media of some sort, and because it works for many of the experts in the field. At its worse, the bias creates blind faith in expert opinion; at its best it delays finding your own path.

I fell prey to this bias in regards to tracking rifles. For more than 10 years I carried a Remington 7600 into the tracking woods because the people I saw as the experts used one. Little did I know that there were many other amazing tracking legends that got less public airtime who each used their own unique rifles that didn’t fall under the Remington pump category. Unfortunately, I missed more big bucks with that pump rifle than I can count. However, my mind was so convinced of this rifle being “the gun” for tracking, that it never once occurred to me that it was not the right tracking rifle for me.

Now, obviously, I have a high regard for the Remington pumps. I wrote 2 chapters in my book, “Learning to Track and Hunt Wilderness Whitetails” about the benefits of those pump guns and how to modify them specifically for tracking and still-hunting. They will land first on the list below because these guns literally were made famous by the best trackers in the world, so I obviously know the reasons behind the immense bias for this rifle in the big woods.

However, you might find that like me, they just don’t fit right, and no matter what you do, you can’t fix it and make it work for you. This is where this article might be of great value to you. I’ve spent 15 years in the quest to build or find the best tracking rifle on the market today, and what I discovered is there are as many great tracking rifles as there are people and their personal preferences. But, with that said, there are some guns that are just a better starting point, and this article is my small attempt to help you find yours. Let’s take a look:

1. Remington Pump Action Models 14, 141, 760, 7600 and Semi Auto Models 742, 7400

The Remington pump action, or “slide action” as they are sometimes called, are the most popular tracking rifles in the US and Canada. They have a cult-like status, and for good reason. They provide the best combination of speed of reload, dependability, carry-ability, and accuracy. They come in calibers as small as 222 Remington all the way to the mighty 35 Whelen. The older model 14 and 141 come in nostalgic calibers, the most popular of which is the legendary 35 Remington. They are light at 7 to 7 ½ pounds loaded. You can find them in rifle length or carbine length (22” and 18 ½” barrel lengths respectively). And they have a slim receiver and balance well in the hand, with or without a scope. Oh, and they are dead reliable. The Remington semi autos are built on the same receiver and barrel lengths, stock geometry, etc. So if you are looking for a semi-auto version, find a clean 742 or 7400 with the older style one piece pressed magazine (the newer two piece magazines tend to flex more and are very problematic in the semi-autos).

2. Marlin, Henry and Winchester Lever Action Rifles

I put these three lever action companies together because they all have similar designs and qualities. I’m not sure there is a better carrying rifle than a lever action with iron sights. They were designed at a time when rifles were carried on foot or from a horse. This made the designs have near perfect balance. And with a small scope the balance doesn’t disappear like on some rifles. They are all dependent on round or flat nose ammunition because of their tube magazines. This isn’t a limit, because even the lower velocities of these types of ammunition do not become a problem in the shorter shots we tend to get when tracking or still-hunting. If you’re looking for a more modern version of the classic lever action that can shoot spritzer bullets, the Browning BLR and Henry Long Ranger might just be your ticket. Both can be had with iron sights installed from the factory, and are drilled and tapped for a scope.

3. Savage Model 99

Admittedly, this is the gun I know the least about, but what I know is that fellow Big Woods Bucks Team Member and expert tracker/guide Lee Schanz and his family, along with hundreds of thousands of hunters over the past century, used them for tracking and still-hunting and they swear by them. I’ve owned a few, and while one still sits in my safe, a 250-3000 Savage caliber model, I haven’t taken a deer with one myself. What I do know is that the design was way ahead of its time with an internal hammer, a rotary magazine, a balance that rivals other lever actions, and a dizzying array of calibers, barrel lengths, and stock configurations. The most famous models in the tracking woods tend to be the carbines in 300 Savage, and the later carbine models with the tang safety and detachable magazine in 308 Winchester, both fantastic whitetail rounds.

4. Any Lightweight, Carbine Length, Bolt Action

I know, I know. It looks like I’m being a cop out here. I’m not. There are so many fantastic lightweight bolt actions today, that it’s almost impossible to point to one that is the superior choice. Here are the ones I’ve owned that were suitable for being on the track without being a handicap: a Winchester Model 70 Compact, a Savage Custom Shop Lightweight Storm, a Remington Model 7, a Browning XBolt Micro Medalion, the famous Mannlicher Schoenauer carbine, and a Ruger RSI. All were fantastic, light, accurate, dependable, reliable guns. But none of them carried like the guns listed above. With that said, I know a lot of amazing hunters – specifically the ADK Trackers here in the Adirondacks – that carry lightweight bolt actions in the mountains of the Northeast. If you are a bolt action guy or gal, there are no shortage of options. I’ve only listed a few here, but if you go to your local gun store you can pick up at least one that’s mentioned above, and then make your comparisons from that safe starting point.

5. Browning BAR

This is the gun that fits me the best and that I’ve carried the most over the last 2 years. Mine is a Browning BAR Mark 3 special edition carbine. It wears a Trijicon 1x4 Accupoint scope in Talley mounts/rings with the amber triangle reticle. Its 7 lbs. 10 ozs with a loaded magazine. It isn’t the slimmest in the hand, but is slimmer than a bolt action. It doesn’t balance as good as some of the others but it is very short, so you don’t tend to notice the nose heavy feel. It’s amazingly dependable as have been all my Browning BARs. In 20 years of shooting them, I’ve never had a loading or ejection issue – even when iced up and filthy from a long hard day in the snowy mountains.

Most BARs are heavy, especially the steel receiver Safari models. These I would not consider great for the track because of that heft, but regardless, I know many who use them anyway. Here’s why these semi autos make my list - when the time comes to shoot the buck of a lifetime, and he’s running out of his bed through the snowy firs, the soft shooting semi auto is the easiest gun I’ve ever shot accurately in a stress-filled pinch. Having 5 rounds to work with, and doing so without having to manually work an action, makes hitting your mark a lot easier. And in the final analysis, this is what really matters.

So there you have it – five rifles that are my pick for the best in the tracking woods. Like I said, there are so many others that could be seen as better in one category or another; maybe more accurate or better in the hand, or more dependable. But when it comes down to the guns I see that have high marks in all the areas, these are my personal favorites and I wouldn’t feel disadvantaged with any of them. Good luck on the trail!