The Big Woods Buck’s Tracker Jacket – A Story from the Adirondacks

It was the second to last day of the 2022 Adirondack rifle season here in New York. For me, because of my work schedule, this would be the last day of hunting for 2022. Austin and I drove from Roy Hart’s and Dave William’s camp, and walked into a local area we like to hunt on those last of the gun season days.

Each year, we find more and more big buck sign in there, and as in years past, we went in deep with high spirits. There was plenty of snow already on the ground to track on, but then it began to rain. Nothing will crush spirits quicker than being wet and cold. No matter how tough you are, that will slow you down and distract you. The good news is, at this point I was still dry because the Big Woods Bucks tracker jacket I was wearing is made from 22oz. virgin American made wool – it’s the best wool hunting jacket on the market.

I found a small buck track and split from Austin to the North as it traveled into a lowland beaver bog. Austin took to the high ground to the South. I casually tracked along, the small buck feeding ahead as he went. I was slowly making time on him. I didn’t really have any interest in him, but I was interested in where he was going because it was new territory, and this chase was more interesting than just pushing an empty slope in search of a monster track. I was letting the buck guide my day for the moment.

Eventually I broke off his track when pot luck hit and a huge buck track crossed his. This new track was really fresh, as the edges were still cut and crisp in the wet, slushy snow, even with the rain falling hard. I knew he wasn’t far – he was meandering and feeding, but would occasionally speed up to sniff doe tracks here and there. These old bruisers will still push it that last week or two of the rut, hoping they find that one last doe in heat. This buck was conflicted though; I could see he wanted to lay down; his stride short, feet dragging along as he went, almost sloppy, exhausted. But then he’d get a small scent of something he liked and it would give him just enough boost to stay on his feet and make some distance on me. I felt like we were a slinky going down a set of stairs - one minute close, then he’d spread away from me, then back to close again. This “push and pull” cadence went on all day, slowly wearing on me as the rain soaked through my ball cap, water wicking out and off the end of the lid like a porch roof in a thunderstorm.

By this point the wind was absolutely pounding, trees falling around me occasionally, rain coming down in buckets. My collar was making my neck wet, my hands were soaked, but my arms, legs and core were still dry, so I was able to still pay attention. That’s when he ever so subtly slowed down. He was stopping to look behind him to make sure it was safe to lie down. I remember thinking as I went into death creep mode, man I’m glad I’m not shivering right now because he is right here!  

I was on a small hemlock ridge, the swamp to my right. The wind and rain made my motion silent and undetectable. Just then, I heard a crash to my right and slightly behind me as the buck caught my scent 25 yards away in the swirling wind. The swamp brush was so thick I couldn’t see him running; all I could hear were his antlers clacking off the “swamp wood” as he motored away towards the small river lowland through the thickest hell on planet earth. I sat under a hemlock as I replayed the moment in my mind. I didn’t feel upset, I was smiling and thinking about how alive I felt, the storm raging on.

I waited a half hour, had a sandwich and restarted my chase. The closer to the river I got, the less snow there was – the rain washing it away. I was beginning to have to do circles in the brown hip-high swamp grass and alders when I cut his running tracks jumping into the now swollen river. I had real trepidation about crossing, as it was getting late, but I decided I just had to give it one last run. As I began crossing the river, the water ran in my boots as I got to the middle where it was deep. It was ironic that just as I was wading in the deeper channel, the rain increased to a pour so hard that the droplets in the air looked like mist blocking out any vision of the surroundings. It was roaring loud, yet that’s when I thought I heard Austin shoot way off in the distance (he did shoot and missed a giant on top of an adjacent mountain).

When I got to the other side I had to continue circles to find the track. He wasn’t slowing down. These bucks get hounded by coyotes constantly – he was a warrior and was going to make distance on me. I looked around, took out my GPS and saw that Austin was trying to contact me for a while. With the trees falling all over the place, he was really worried when I hadn’t responded back. My legs now soaked from my hips down, socks soaked as well and the wind pounding to the point of scary – I felt it time to bail. I returned a quick message to Austin of where to meet and got to it.

It took another river crossing and a crossing in a beaver pond edge to cut my travel route down by a mile. This had had me completely soaked from the waist down and an ice build-up on the outside. I was tired, and yes, the wool was getting quite heavy by now, but I was still retaining heat, my core and arms still dry. With the exception of a time where I went through the ice in a blizzard on a remote hunt, I’m not sure I’ve even been in a worse situation from a weather perspective, and yet I was warm enough to make good headway. I made it back to a marked trail and met Austin there. We were both relieved to see each other alive and be on an established trail making our way out I can tell you! 

With all that we went through that day, we’d both been within 30 yards of mature mountain bucks, endured wicked weather, and had stories to tell. I have zero doubt that had I been wearing some of my other wool clothes of lesser quality, I absolutely would never have even been in the ballpark of that buck. While I’ve always been a believer in wool, I will always wear my Big Woods Bucks wool tracker jacket and Big Woods Bucks wool pants designed specifically by people who have been in similar circumstances and come out alive and in many cases, dragging a big woods buck…certainly something to think about the next time you pick out your new wool tracker jacket and wool pants!

Pick up a Big Woods Bucks wool jacket here, and grab Mark's book "Learning to Track and Hunt Wilderness Whitetails" for more stories from the Adirondacks and beyond.