The Big Woods Buck’s Wool Tracker Jacket – A Timeless Standard that is Meeting the Needs of the 21st Century Hunter

When most people think of hunting whitetails in the 21^st century, they typically think of tree stands, blinds, bean fields, long range bolt actions, and high-tech bow hunting. While these remain quite popular, the reality is that there’s been a quiet, but slowly growing significant shift in the outdoor hunting world over the last few decades away from these ideals.

The COVID experience accelerated this evolution, as people were quite literally driven to think more about a possible move out of urban areas and into a more rural, self-sustaining, lifestyle. As thistrend has taken shape demographically, so has the equipment being used to procure game; that being the rifles used, the way your gear is carried, and of course the jacket you decide to wear in the field.

The Big Woods Buck’s Wool Tracker Jacket – Some History

The trend away from the tree stand and blinds began as far back as the 70’s with Larry Benoit’s book highlighting the ancient art of tracking bucks in his seminal book, How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life. Then in 1998 Bryce Towsley’s book, Big Bucks the Benoit Way introduced an entirely new (and in many cases younger) group into the tracking fraternity through more detailed stories of Larry and his sons’ tracking exploits in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.

It was about this period, when expert tracker and Maine Master Guide Hal Blood, along with fellow hunter and friend Chris Dalti, founded Big Woods Bucks (BWB). At that same time the Benoits were slowly making the choice to pursue a less public life, and Hal and Chris filled that void with BWB’s mission to “educate through entertainment”. 

At the time Hal had already been an expert tracker and still-hunter with a bevy of 200+ pound bucks on his wall. He and his wife Debbie were also managing his outfitting company with a crew of top-notch Maine guides. Without realizing it at the time, they were all collecting a wealth of data and practical knowledge of what gear works, and what doesn’t through the experiences of bringing hundreds of inexperienced hunters as well as seasoned hunters in the Maine November woods over the course of decades.

Being an outfitter in this harsh environment is a huge responsibility, and frankly, it’s just plain difficult work – the mountains demand it! And because of that reality, the guiding, along with Hal’s personal passion of tracking big woods bucks became the testing grounds for every single piece of equipment that would be used by BWB’s Team Members and BWB’s customers in the field years later.

How the Wool Tracker Jacket Developed

Here are the important things Hal, Chris, his guides, and eventually BWB’s Team Members learned from their experiences guiding and hunting:

• If the piece of equipment didn’t have a purpose that increased the odds of successfully killing a North Maine Buck, it wasn’t even considered as viable or recommended.
• If it wasn’t safe and reliable it was tossed.
• Any “extra features” that did not support the BWB standard of “Go Further, Stay Longer, Kill Bigger Bucks” were discarded for ultimate simplicity, lightweight and effectiveness.
• And lastly, if the piece of equipment enhances an experienced hunter’s success, that piece of equipment can only help the beginner’s chances as well, and it will also serve to accelerate their learning curve.

Besides a map and compass, the tracker’s wool jacket is probably the most important piece of equipment that a northern hunter will use, for both safety and peace of mind.

Order your Big Woods Bucks wool jacket today.