Team – Big Woods Bucks

The Big Woods Bucks Team

If you’re looking for a team of outdoor professionals whom like to share their woodsmen skills and are entertaining while doing it, you’ve come to the right place.

The Big Woods Bucks team is comprised of some of the foremost experts in whitetail hunting, and hunting in North America generally, many of whom bring decades of experience as Maine guides to the team. Each member is specifically chosen for their particular skill sets and willingness to help others learn.

One of our true passions is passing on our knowledge and experiences to Big Woods Bucks fans, both expert hunters and beginners just setting out into the woods to hunt the old-fashioned way. From teaching beginners to read sign, to showing intermediate hunters how to track and sneak up on wily mature bucks, through films, books, and seminars we teach the hunting and woodsman skills necessary to achieve your outdoors goals.

Hal Blood

Hal Blood is a Master Maine Guide based out of Jackman, Maine. After serving in the Marine Corps, Hal went into the lobstering business before finally achieving his dream of opening a guide business in northern Maine in 1989. Hal ran Cedar Ridge Outfitters from 1989 to 2013. He founded Big Woods Bucks in 2007 with his business partner and first client, Chris Dalti, with a mission of educating about big woods hunting through entertainment. In 2013, Hal sold Cedar Ridge Outfitters, and in 2014 he took a position as Head of Continuous Improvement of Firearms with Remington Arms. In 2019, Hal reopened his guiding business as Big Woods Outfitters.

Hal is considered one of the preeminent experts on tracking deer in the snow and still-hunting in the big woods. In 2024, he was named by Field & Stream as one of the 25 Greatest Whitetail Hunters of All Time. Hal has been featured on MeatEater and Outdoor Life. He has written three books on hunting in the big woods: ”Hunting Big Woods Bucks Volumes 1 & 2” (2004) and “Tracking Big Woods Bucks” (2017). He has given hundreds of seminars on big woods hunting at shows across the Northeast, published dozens of articles on hunting, and produced numerous hunting films and educational videos on the Big Woods Bucks YouTube channel. He also co-hosted the television show Big Woods Adventures, which aired regionally in the Northeast from 2010 to 2011.

Hal has hunted whitetail deer in Montana, Ontario, the Upper Midwest, and the Adirondack Mountains of New York, as well as elk in Colorado. He lives in Jackman, Maine, with his wife, Debbie, and his two dogs, Maggie and Sophie.

Lee Schanz Jr.

Lee is a senior team member of Big Woods Bucks and a Maine Master Guide from Cornville, Maine. He has a passion for tracking big whitetails and calling Maine’s largest moose. He served for many years on the Board of Directors for the Maine Professional Guides Association. Lee has hunted Alaska and Canada as well as his native state of Maine, taking record-class animals on his adventures.

When Lee is not chasing deer and moose for himself, he runs Schanz's Guide Service, specializing in deer, moose, and bear. His clients have taken animals that qualified for Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young, and MASTC. Lee also enjoys writing articles for local outdoor publications and for Big Woods Bucks media.

Lee's wife, Kelly, helps him run Schanz's Guide Service along with their son, Stephen, who is also a BWB team member. Lee and Kelly also have three wonderful daughters: Amber, Sarah, and Christine.

Mark Scheeren

Mark is a Big Woods Bucks team member and an avid rifle hunter who specializes in tracking and still-hunting (and will stand-hunt when conditions warrant that tactic on both public and private land). He is also an outdoor writer with articles published, as well as his latest book, Learning to Track and Hunt Wilderness Whitetails: One Man’s Tale of Applying the Ancient Art from the Masters.

Mark considers himself a hunter and conservationist. He spends most of his season hunting in his native Adirondacks and northern Maine and has hunted in the river valleys of Montana as well. Mark is a researcher by profession and has brought his inquisitive nature into his devotion to matching the rifle to the tracking art and mountain hunting.

Mark is also an addiction researcher and is the chairman of Baldwin Research Institute, the St. Jude Retreat, and is a co-author of the controversial book, The Freedom Model for Addictions: Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap.

Mark is married to his beautiful wife, Danielle, and has three wonderful children: Austin, Gabrielle, and Jae

Brad Willey

Born and raised in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Brad’s passion for the big woods was ignited at a young age while tagging along with his father, Bill, trapping fur and tracking bucks. Brad's love for hunting began early as he watched his father not just kill a buck, but find the track, work that track wherever it took him, and finally kill the buck that made it.

Brad appreciates everything about the hunt, from locating the track to taking the buck off his feet to dragging him miles out of the big woods. Though Brad is an accomplished big woods buck tracker, he also moves on to several bucks on core ground as well. He takes pride in hunting bucks in the national forests because, as he says, "your only means of locating a big buck track is with what the good Lord gave you...your feet"

His passion for tracking big bucks inspired him to found his small business, White Mountain Buck Trackers. Brad is known for his fierce determination and never-quit mindset, attributes stemming from his military training as a paratrooper and Army Ranger. Additionally, Brad is an Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) combat war veteran and a Purple Heart recipient.

Austin Scheeren

Austin grew up following his father around in the woods since he was four years old. After spending years hiking and camping in the Adirondack Park, he was old enough to hunt those same mountains. Over the years, Austin learned the ways of tracking and the importance of mental strength.

Austin has become more knowledgeable about gear and firearms than most because that is his passion. Having grown up on lever-action rifles, that is all he carries with him in the big woods.

Austin’s favorite thing to do outside of hunting is to teach people. Whether it’s survival skills in the woods, knowledge about guns, or how to beat the mental game of hunting the mountains, he is always willing to share the knowledge passed on to him.

Bob Dunbar

Bob found his passion for hunting as a boy, running around in the woods of upstate New York with his good friend and fellow Big Woods Bucks team member, Mark Scheeren. Bob shot his first buck with a bow when he was 16 years old. It was a small buck, but after getting that first one, he was hooked.

In the early years, Bob spent much of deer season in a tree stand, waiting for the bucks to come to him. He started tracking in the big woods of the Adirondacks 20 years ago and got his first big woods buck in 2008. In recent years, Bob has hunted the big woods in the Adirondacks and Maine, while also spending time hunting on his land in upstate New York during the Southern Zone bow season. He is also an avid turkey hunter and fisherman.

In 2015, Bob had emergency open-heart surgery. It was a long road to recovery, and he was uncertain if he would be able to hunt the Adirondacks that year. Through hard work and sheer determination, Bob got himself back into big woods hunting condition and was able to make a hunting trip in upstate New York with his close friend Mark and BWB team members Hal Blood and Chris Dalti. Despite miserably warm weather with no chance of snow, Bob persevered on that hunting, a trip he had once been unsure he would be able to make after his surgery and harvested a beautiful nine-point buck.

Scott Gaillard

The majority of Scott’s hunting career was spent on small farms and in suburban tree stands until he relocated to New Hampshire and was reborn into a big woods hunter thanks to Big Woods Bucks. He considers this the purest, most challenging, and most rewarding way to pursue deer. He is passionate about perpetually honing his own skills and enabling others who pursue this pinnacle of adventurous hunting.

As Big Woods Bucks Director of Videography and Acting COO, Scott’s goal is to deliver the highest quality big woods equipment and educational entertainment to our large and growing big woods community. Scott also writes an award-winning hunting column for his local newspaper and spends as much time as possible outdoors with his family.

Brian Connor

Brian Connor is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Big Woods Bucks. He got his start hunting in the big woods of the Adirondacks out of his family's camp in 2018, shooting his first buck that season. A lifelong amateur filmmaker, in 2021 he followed and filmed Big Woods Bucks team members Rick Labbe and Lee Schanz hunting for two weeks in Maine, ultimately producing the film, On the Track of a Maine Buck with Rick Labbe.

Since then, Brian has served as Content Manager and CMO for Big Woods Bucks, editing the bulk of Big Woods Bucks YouTube, blog post, and social media content. Brian also hosts The Adirondack Hunt Podcast. He is an accomplished backpacker and has backpacked the entire 138-mile Northville-Placid Trail (NPT*) in two sections, as well as many other trails throughout the Adirondack Park.

Brian is a passionate hunter and filmmaker, and has applied that same passion and drive to his work as CEO at Big Woods Bucks. Brian served as a prosecutor in New York City for six years, and now serves as an attorney for New York State. Brian is also a licensed New York State hunting and fishing guide, and has published articles in The Maine Sportsman Magazine and The Northwoods Sporting Journal.

Big Woods Bucks Contributors

Big Woods Bucks is dedicated to promoting woodsman skills by showcasing the best filmmakers and writers the big woods has to offer. If you have a film or article that you believe showcases the big woods well, has educational value, and promotes woodsmanship and hunting skills, email Content Manager Brian Connor at bhconnor@bigwoodsbucks.com with a link to your video or a copy of your article, and BWB may publish it!

Logan Rackliff

Logan Rackliff is passionate about tracking, going on outdoor adventures, his wife, family, and most of all, Jesus Christ. He wants and tries to put God first in everything he does. He hopes this looks like keeping his priorities in order by taking care of his wife, family, local church, and business first, and then hunting or fishing when things are taken care of.

Logan's father, Craig, has been a big influence on his life and got him into a love of adventure in the big woods around five years old. He loves the chase, the jump, the drag, the crew, and all of the tracking adventure experience.

Mostly hunting northern Maine his whole life, he lives in Mid-Coast Maine and has very little time now to hunt and basically no time to scout. He is the everyday tracker who has very little time to hunt and be in the woods each season and wants to help everyone understand it can be done and in a healthy way that doesn't sacrifice the important things.

Caleb Lewis

Born and raised in Maine, Caleb grew up in a passionate hunting family. After harvesting his first 200-pound buck at age 14, Caleb has been whitetail-obsessed ever since, hunting them across New England & Canada. In 2016, he moved to far northern Maine to attend the University of Maine at Fort Kent. While in northern Maine, Caleb began as a tree-stand hunter but quickly realized that waiting for a big woods buck to cross his path was a near-impossible task. Determined to find a better method, he discovered Hal Blood's book: Hunting Big Woods Bucks: Secrets of Tracking and Stalking Whitetails and immersed himself in the big woods hunting lifestyle. Through extensive research and hands-on trial and error, he learned the art of tracking and still-hunting.

Caleb worked as a park ranger on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, where he met several mentors who helped sharpen his woodsman skills. During this time, he also became an avid moose shed hunter, which led to him founding his business, Allagash Antlers. His passion for moose antlers allowed him to establish roots in northern Maine, where he still resides with his wife and son. Caleb is convinced that tracking whitetails in the Northeast is the premier method for consistently harvesting big woods bucks. He is eager to share his knowledge with others while continuing to learn and refine his skills in the wilderness he calls home.

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