Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Larry Benoit

The story about the Buck he shot and then spent the night with him in sub zero temps with no fire while the snow piled up high is the stuff of legend.

Fought his way out the next morning and on going back to find the Buck all sign was covered over with deep snow and the Buck was never found.

I first read about Larry Benoit over 40 years ago. It was a Sports Afield article as I recall. Then Outdoor Life began printing features about him from time to time. Always very good reading for me.

My Remington 760 has taken many animals including antelope and mule deer. Its a keeper!

Farewell to Larry!

Sherwood

Looking at those bucks on the wall in the article is a reminder that many people will hunt the Northeast big woods and be fortunate to take a couple like those in their lifetime.That one man could kill so many of them,hunting on foot, and tracking them is nothing short of astonishing.

There is no doubt in my mind that he was the "best" big buck hunter in America.

I guess I have been "out of the loop". RIP Mr. Benoit........I doubt you have any idea how many young hunters you influenced.

I enjoy hunting in Ohio, etc. but those deer don't have the same status in my "earned" file that the "lesser " NH deer that Ive dogged to the end do.

George

NH MA and VT are for real hunters that pac in and track and track and go deep not road side hunter . If you what big deer you have to work for them not siting in deer camp cold ,nasty weather and big woods
That's was the BENOIT WAY separate the men from the boys

My dad and I used to pass by their house daily to and from work. They had some very large deer hanging on the front porch in the fall. Always very large bodies.

Larry Benoit was an incredible hunter. I read his book a few years ago and was very impressed with his knowledge, ability, and determination. I would have really enjoyed meeting the man.

RIP Larry. You were my hero from a very young age.

Sad to hear -Rest in Peace Larry.

I was thinking about Larry and his sons the other day while scrolling through the Sportsmans Channel and wondering why I don't see good hunting shows like the Benoits did.

Mike

RIP to a true hunter. He will be missed.

If you read "How to Bag the Biggest Buck of your life" and did not want to immediately run down to the LGS and buy a 270 Remington Pump rifle then there is no hope for you.

I bought the first edition in the early 70's signed by Larry. I wore that book out reading it over and over and over again.

RIP Greatest Deer Hunter ever

Love ready his books.. Sad to hear he has left us.

October 16, 2013
Larry Benoit, �Babe Ruth for Hunters,� Is Dead at 89
By WILLIAM YARDLEY

Larry Benoit, who tracked whitetail deer through the snowy woods of northern New England and southern Canada for more than seven decades, shooting at least 200 of the biggest and most prized specimens, known as trophy bucks, while becoming one of the nation�s most revered deer hunters, died on Oct. 8 at his home in Duxbury, Vt. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by his son Shane.

Today, trophy buck hunting has elements of competitive sport, some of them high-tech. Some hunters use video cameras to learn the traveling and behavior patterns of deer, and, after a kill, many have antlers officially measured; �trophy racks,� they are called.

Mr. Benoit, who grew up poor near the Canadian border, learned to hunt because his family needed food. Even after achieving fame, he measured success by a buck�s weight; the heavier the buck, the more meat. His most notable skill was in recognizing (without a camera) the tracks big bucks left in the snow and following them as long as necessary.

�He was kind of like Babe Ruth for hunters,� said Ron Boucher, a hunter and rack measurer who knew Mr. Benoit for more than 30 years and wrote about him for North American Whitetail magazine. �He was probably known by more hunters than any other person for his time.�

In September 1970, Sports Afield magazine published a cover article with the headline �Larry Benoit � Is He the Best Deer Hunter in America?� Five years later, Mr. Benoit, a carpenter in the off-season, published �How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life,� a book, written with Peter Miller, that many people consider a standard text for deer hunters. In it, he promoted comprehensive preparation, not instant gratification:

Find deer using the ancient art of tracking hoof prints, not sitting in the relative comfort of a tree stand. Are you really a hunter, or just a shooter? Do not fire at the first big buck you see. Wait for the one you truly want.

�To outwit the whitetail, you must know how to locate him, how to track him and how to down him,� he wrote. �It takes stamina, woods lore, deer lore and experience to win this fight.�

Ease up on those summer beers. Drink skim milk. (He favored �canned baby food for desserts and vegetables,� though he knew that neither was for everyone.) Tend to your calluses, wear wool socks, take the stairs instead of the elevator, do isometrics �on the can� if that is the only time you have. Build up your thighs and your lung capacity with long hikes. Do not smoke. (A little Red Man chewing tobacco should not hurt.) Practice walking silently in the woods.

Remember, whether he is a swamp deer or a ridge runner, that buck is bigger, faster and more familiar with his territory than you are.

�Mister,� he wrote, �if you aren�t in shape to dog a mountain buck and follow him for 15 miles, then walk out of the woods and be ready to do it the next day, and maybe the day after, and maybe for a week, then just be an armchair buck hunter. Don�t go out in the woods and kill yourself.�

The magazine articles and the book were not his idea. His reputation grew as hunters and eventually outdoors writers noticed, year after year, that his house, on a hill in Duxbury, always had big bucks hanging outside. How did one family have so much success?

Shane Benoit, who is an accomplished hunter himself, as are his brothers, said the secret to his father�s success was in the tracking skills that had been passed down through generations. His lineage was French Canadian and Iroquois.

�My grandfather did it, my great-grandfather did it, my great-great-grandfather did it, and so on down the line,� he said.

Lanyard Everett Benoit was born on Sept. 24, 1924, in East Berkshire, Vt., to Leo Benoit and the former Irene Lawrence. His father was a blacksmith and made the hunting knives his son used growing up. (That was another skill Mr. Benoit inherited: he also made and sold custom hunting knives.)

When Mr. Benoit was 15, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, which built roads, mountain lodges and other structures in Vermont and provided food and shelter during the difficult years after the Depression.

He traveled frequently to speak to hunting groups, taking endless questions. Sometimes conflicts in hunting culture became apparent. Some hunters, for example, were accustomed to tracking bucks on private land, where the animals� wild food had been supplemented with grain so that they and their antlers would grow bigger. The Benoits hunted on public land, and they were not much for measuring antlers.

�The only grain we feed them is either a 130- or a 150-grain bullet,� Shane Benoit said.

In addition to him, Mr. Benoit is survived by three other sons, Lanny, Lansing and Lane; four daughters, Aloma Abner, Serene Savarese, Aleta Corriveau and Zana Evans; 23 grandchildren; 29 great-grandchildren; and 2 great-great-grandchildren.

A daughter, Lona Burns, died last year. His wife of 66 years, the former Iris Sweet, died in 2008. She was known to start cooking deer meat while her husband and sons were still carving up the carcass.

^^^ That's a great story.

Finished Townsley's book on the Benoits' tonight at work. Now to amazon to find the original book. I'm guessing there will be no finding a Larry Benoit custom knife at a reasonable price anymore.

Larry and his sons always inspired our camp to hunt hard and stick to it to make it happen.He will be missed.

His son Lansing or Lance is seen in early photos along with Uncle Windy but he is never mentioned in later years.The obituary says he survives.Wonder why no mention of Lance?

Farewell to a great hunter! I had the privilege of meeting him once, and he was quite a character. As far as his son Lance, the story is that he and Larry had a falling out years ago over some youthful indiscretions. I'm sure they are like all families, with their own faults and strengths. One thing for sure is they are one hell of a huntin' family!

Thanks Bogtrotter! They are true hunters in every sense.