Success Stories: Chris' Big Woods Buck - 15 years in the making!

"Hey Hal,

Hope all is well. My Name is Chris. I've really just wanted to say thank you. I’ve been meaning to send you an email for the past few weeks because I want to share a story with you.

We have met before at the 2024 Spring Thaw. I asked for you to autograph one of your books for me to give my daughters when they are older. I also made a request if you could make a video about how to clean and fully disassemble the Remington 760’s and 7600’s because the 760 I had recently bought I thought was a bit stiff when working the action. I told you how you’ve done everything about how to prepare me for hunting in the big woods, but not how to care for the rifle. I told you that there were really no videos showing the complete tear down online and you gave me some pointers on how to take it apart and how to check for bad O rings. Well, it was only like a couple months later that your video popped up on YouTube and I was blown away when I saw the post about it. It sounds dumb, but it felt like you really made it because of our conversation. I still wasn’t able to get the darn thing to twist, I even ordered the tool from TGI Creations you recommended too. I think there is some lock tight on there from the factory, I’ve heard about that on some models, or I might not be applying enough pressure. I don’t want to ruin or mar up anything. I read to use some heat to loosen it up but I’m worried about damaging the bluing. I just haven’t been confident enough to tackle fully taking it apart yet. It still works, doesn’t rattle, and after a few shots it does slide a lot smoother. I think it’s just in need of thorough cleaning. And while that video is priceless for me personally, I want to say thank you for really all you’ve done for me. I’m happy to report, two points finally connected!

Fifteen years after my first deer, over twenty five years of hunting deer in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, I was finally fortunate to tag this Southern NH buck at 7:45am on 11/22 in the town that I live in. I was still hunting on bare ground after it had rained all night. Rain quit just after first light, no wind and a little foggy, the air was heavy and it was about 35 degrees out, almost the perfect conditions for still hunting. An hour after first light, I found some fresh ground scrapes that were made on a run down by an old beaver bog. Remembering your teachings about how to read/age deer sign, he had to be close and most likely ahead of me based on the direction he was scraping the ground and rubbing the trees. I was taking my time following his tracks from ground scrape to ground scrape on the wet leaves on a nice run. I stopped and grunted a few times to try and bring him in close to me. After about 5 mins, I could hear something walking slowly towards me.

I got down on one knee and could see just deer legs moving through the underbrush/ softwoods about 40 yards away. It was walking what I found later to be down his backtrack on that run, checking for "the other buck" he thought rolled up on him and his scrapes. He had no idea I was even there but I couldn’t really tell what it was let alone get a shot. At about 30 yards I could see it had a basket for headgear and was probably the buck I was after. I had to let him continue to creep up on me because I had no real window to shoot with all the whippets, blowdowns, and the branches of pines and hemlocks. He wasn’t alarmed, and never called back, just slowly approached with his head up looking for me. Once he got to about 20 yards just off to my left, I looked ahead of where he was going and picked a small window to take the shot while he was passing two large white pine trees. As soon as he appeared from behind the second tree, he stood still.

I touched off my 1978 Remington 760 Gamemaster .270 cal with a 150gr Remington Core-lokts, and put one right at the base of his neck, he bounded off about 20 yards and it was all over, what a hunt! It took me and a buddy over two hours to drag him out to a portion of the road where we could at least get my car down to get him out the rest of the way. We were just over a mile back in from pavement as the crow flies, hunting off an old class 6 road in the town I live in. He dressed out at 143lbs with what I'm calling 8 points, he's my second and biggest deer to date. Best part was I even had him hanging in my garage before my father, who introduced me to hunting when I was 10 and had to stop hunting due to his health, arrived at 11:00am with my mother to visit my twin daughters for an early Thanksgiving. He even jokingly sent me a text when I went out at first light that I had better have one hanging before he got there, and I finally made it happen. It was such an amazing experience and I’ll remember it forever.  

Why do I feel the need to tell you this? Well Hal, I truly attribute this success to what you’ve done for my hunting skills and confidence. It was all thanks to your amazing content, products, suggestions/referrals, and the countless tips I've learned from reading/listening/watching your videos, the former and current Big Woods Bucks crew member videos, and the Benoit books/content over the past few years. I’ve listened to your recommendations for just about everything, my firearm, ammo, optics, clothing, reading topos, what to bring in my pack, even where to have my deer processed. I’ve ordered your products, and have done my best to apply the knowledge you’ve provided me the opportunity to learn. I can't tell you how much this buck means to me, my father, and my family! You're an inspiration to me of what it truly means to be a deer hunter. You’ve given me so much knowledge, confidence, and motivation to "master" this craft and to never give up.

Thank you Hal, truly, for making me a better hunter. This buck is part of your legacy as much as it will be mine.

-Chris P."