Customer Reviews

Hunting Big Woods Bucks

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Worth reading. Having read Larry Benoit (How to Bag the biggest buck of your life), there are several similarities. However, Hal goes one step further by discussing several methods of bagging that trophy buck. I did note that both hunters use the same firearm (Remington 30-06 pump w/iron sights).
Personally, I feel this is a better book for the buck (pun intended)with multiple ways of getting the biggest buck of your life. Hal's book gives you a good start on what to look for when beginning tracking, stand hunting, using a grunt tube etc. Larry Benoit covers tracking only. Personally, I feel this book covers tracking equally as well as Larry Benoit does w/his book. Do what I did read em both, but if your budget is tight I'd buy this one!

This book really seems to cover the most effective hunting tactics for those of us in the colder climates. It deals with tracking (especially in snow) quite a bit. It also deals with deer behavior and the probable reasons for this behavior. I have learned a lot from this book and plan on using the tactics explained and looking for bucks in places covered here. I love how the lessons learned are interspersed with good hunting stories to back up the lesson. Not all the stories are success stories either. Mr Blood does a good job explaining the hunt and respecting it, whether it leads to a harvest or not.

I have all their books, all provide some interesting reading. I find Hals book straight to the point, full of good tips and he doesnt even spend 1/2 the time tooting his own horn like in the others books. Hals book is 1 to keep for a lifetime, a reference book.

I've read the Benoits books (twice), and this book beats them. This guy really hunts like everyone else WANTS to hunt. He can track, sit, rattle, drive. Hal Blood will be the next great deerhunter in the Northeast. I've already booked a spot in his camp for this fall. It's almost impossible to book a one on one hunt with him. I read the book twice before I gave it to a friend. He booked the hunt with me.

I liked this book alot . As a tracking book it's as infomationaly complete as any. I personally like "Big Bucks the Benoit way" better. The chapter " Track him down" in this book is worth the price of the book. As with the other tracking books I have found the sign reading info is relivent most anywhere. Hal Blood, The Benoits, R.G. Bernier are pure deer hunters. They hunt the toughest areas in the toughest conditions. They are going to be successful on big deer anywhere they choose to hunt. Not just on a high dollar lease's and guided hunts like alot of the "experts" are. I have picked up alot up info in there writing.

A nice, quick-reading compliment to the author's first book! If you're buying one, buy the other as well - and bring them to deer camp! Even the most expert of big woods deer hunters will glean some meaningful detail from these pages.

This is a good book on regional tactics and methods. It covers some of the same material as the Benoit books but also fills in some missing aspects. While the Benoit books have a good deal of information some of it is phrased in their personal style that is a little off the mainstream. Blood's book is more of a bridge to the bulk of deer hunting methods. He covers stand hunting, for example, and adds some tips on letting spooked bucks calm down that are worthwhile. The book does gloss over some information and some details may also not apply to your area. For instance, I am in the same bioregion as he is, but we don't have the brown ash that is the key rub tree in his area. Also, I haven't seen some of the patterns, he mentions.

One thing that I do find fault with is his comments on shooting running bucks. He says it is essential to his methods and states that, "If you don't learn to make running shots, you may not get many shots at big-woods bucks. Over the years, I've taken a lot of bucks that were running, and I have never wounded one -either I've made a good shot or had a clean miss." That is good to hear but it is in defiance of physics and probability. If you shoot at running deer in the woods you are going to run the risk of wounding and losing deer. Why he avoids this issue I don't know, but it is a disservice to the reader, many of whom, will not be properly prepared for an ethically dicey dilemma. The Benoits avoid this, as well, and, as their videos show, it must happen more than they admit.

On the whole though, this is a very accessible book with a lot to offer big woods hunters especially when added to the Benoit books.

I saw somewhere that he working on a new book or an updated book. It will be good if he can expand on this fine effort.

Hal tries real hard to give you a good in depth view of his hunting techniques which incompass many styles. He tells you how he starts and finishes, as well as describes his and his clients successes as well as failures in detail. Excellent book, even if you dont hunt the big woods you'll still enjoy the read, there is always something you can learn from the real pro's like Hal and his crew.

This book is not only extremely informative regarding Maine and "Big Woods" deer hunting, tracking and stalking, it is very entertaining. Author Hal Blood writes entirely from his personal experiences as a hunter and master guide in the Maine northwoods centered in Jackman, ME where he operates a hunting lodge. I've never hunted with Hal, but after reading his book, would like to, as well as enroll in his hunting and tracking class.

He covers not only tracking, but stand-hunting, stalking, equipment and preparation for the North Woods, use of topo maps, etc. Hal has organized the book very well, and throughout, he includes detailed, actual accounts of successful and unsuccessful hunts by himself and many of his clients. Great photos and guides to tracking, including distinguishing a buck from a doe track based on the track pattern, width between tracks, etc. His love of big woods hunting comes through every page. Buy it & read it!

This was the most enjoyable deer hunting book I ever read. This is a how to book on how to hunt whitetails in lightly hunted remote northern forests. However, there is plenty of practical knowledge that applies to all of whitetail hunting. The author does a particularly good job of mixing in short interesting hunting stories to illustrate his points. These stories by themselves would be worth the price of the book. This is an excellent book both to learn something about whitetail hunting and just to read for enjoyment.