Tracking deer in the Northeast is a culture. It is wool pants, rustic hunting camps, and a steamy thermos of coffee. It is riding the roads all morning to find the right track before heading into the big woods. It is deer measured in weight and not just antlers. It is the rugged people who still choose to chase a track in the snow.
The Northeast Hunting Culture
Deer trackers are a special breed; rough around the edges, competitive, and hard-working. They follow big tracks in the snow like pirates chasing gold. There are a few things that only deer trackers understand.
So, drawing on inspiration from Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Might Be a Redneck,” series, we present:
You might be a Northeast deer tracker if…
- You consider fresh snow and strong wind to be more exciting than opening day.
- You think “How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life,” by Larry Benoit is equivalent to a northwoods Bible.
- Your November fitness plan is the mountains, meat sticks, and oatmeal raisin cookies.
- Your childhood heroes had the last name Benoit or Massett, and not Brady or Gretzky.
- You “couldn’t be happier” when you get a big buck.
- You identify as a deer hunter 365 days a year, but will only go hunting if the snow is right.
Tracking in the Snow
- Your hunting closet is full of Stagr, Darn Tough, and Johnson Wool.
- You know the unofficial, unspoken rules of the deer tracker code.
- You have called a two-mile uphill drag “not bad,” and meant it.
- You know how to decode a deer track like a NASA scientist programs a rocket.
- You think tree saddles are the man bun of the hunting world.
- The day you got your first 200-pounder was more emotional than your wedding day.
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- You have stepped on a stick in the woods and ruminated about it for the next four hours.
- You have buddies that you can call to help drag out a big buck who show up every time.
- You have followed a buck until dark, went to bed early, and came back to follow the same track the next day.
- You have passionate opinions about whether red or green plaid wool is better.
- You laugh at hunters going into the woods in a puffy jacket.
- You have experienced the full heartbreak arc of: track → hope → jump → frustation → wallowing in an abyss of self-pity.
Old Time Hunting Meets Modern Point of View
- You have been to Huntstock.
- You say things like “the only scents I need are common sense,” or “can’t get em if ya don’t shoot.”
- You would rather talk hunting with slow-moving old guys that have spent a lifetime in the woods than trendy influencers.
- Your best deer recovery stories involve something that definitely shouldn’t have worked, but did.
- You watch Big Woods Bucks, Mountain Deer, Makin’ Tracks, Northwoods Whitetails, Tracking 200, or the True North Lifestyle on YouTube.
- You listen to the Big Buck Theory podcast.
- You relate to the suffering in tracking videos as much as the success.
Big Effort for Big Bucks
If you’re tracking bucks on snow in the big woods, you already know the truth: this isn’t the easiest way to kill a buck. But it is honest and gritty, and you can be proud at the end of the day. Sure, you might end up so cold you can’t feel your nose, get routinely humbled, and occasionally question your sanity, but you will learn to read the forest like the old timers, and with any luck, not have to eat tag soup at the end of the season.
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