by Dave Hurteau

Having fledged under the wing of the great David E. Petzal, I know I should be a glass snob. But my Northeastern, lower-middle-class upbringing won’t allow it. Here in one of the many heavily wooded, economically depressed parts of the country, the way many of us buy scopes is we walk into a big box store, pick a decent-looking scope at a can’t-beat price, and put it on the ol’ deer rifle.

by Dave Hurteau

About a month ago, we started with The Sweet Sixteen of Whitetail Brush Rifles—a March Madness-style tourney to decide the top deer gun in the thick woods. In four rounds of head-to-head matchups, you voted the great Savage 99 out in the Elite Eight and sent the North Woods staple Remington 7600 packing in the Final Four. So it came down to the top seeds: Winchester 94 vs. Marlin 336.

And now, with more than 800 votes cast in the final matchup, it is all over—and it wasn’t even that close. While I admit I was rooting for the 94, my sentimental choice, I’m not surprised the 336 came out on top. I am mildly shocked, however, that it trounced the venerable 94, which got only about 40 percent of the vote.

by Dave Hurteau

Well things are getting interesting now, aren’t they? Not to mention a little upsetting as one of the stars in my cabinet, the venerable 99, goes down in flames. (Oh well, I’ve got two more still in the running.) Meanwhile, who’d have guessed that a bolt—even one so popular as the Model Seven—would get this deep into the tourney? But it has, and we now have our final four matchups.

First is the aforementioned Seven vs. the most popular deer rifle ever made. I think we can at least pencil that one in. But second is a far more interesting matchup: the 336 vs. the 7600. A few years back, I traded a 760 in .35 Rem. for a 336 in .35 Rem.—and am still not sure who got the better gun in the deal. I know this: At the Adirondack camps I where I’ve hunted, there are more of the two-seed 7600 than the one-seed 336.

by Dave Hurteau

On the radio this morning and it’s all UConn vs. Butler. But who can be bothered with that when the all-time deer-killing king is about to go head-to-head with perhaps the best all-around whitetail rifle ever made, in the 94 vs. 99 matchup. And if it’s a shootout you’re after, we’ve got the North Woods’ ubiquitous pump vs. its autoloading brother.

With Division II play wrapped up, including an not-very-surprising upset pulled off by the popular Woodsmaster, we arrive the our Elite Eight. So, as usual, check out the bracket (you can click here to print out a larger copy if you want to fill it out). Then vote for your preferred brush rifle in each matchup below. And in a few days, we will have our Final Four.