Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Renowned Vermont Tracker Lane Benoit Dies at 60

I don't know them personally but had seen them a few times at events. Great guys and hunters...legends in the northeast...RIP

I think that was posted a few days ago, Roger.

May he rest in peace.

Seems like it was in the 60s and i was a kid when i first read about them in Outdoor Life or such.

When I first read of their ability I laughed at the foolishness that anyone could do that. After reading a couple books about trackers and talking to a friend who worked with one in search and rescue I am convinced they are like Michael Jordan in their respective jobs.

May he rest in peace and his family's mouring be short.

60 is young RIP. Around our camp the ones that tracked didn't shoot as well, just just sayin

Yes, young indeed. It sounds like he was hunting in a WI last Fall. I have enjoyed a book or two about the Benoit family.

Who cares?

The Benoit family produced several extraordinary hunters. I am truly impressed with their abilities and tenacity. May he rest in peace.

Hope they were able to pass the skill along to other hunters.

You need a big land to do what those guys were doing. No wonder the skill is getting lost.

Barry plenty of room up here...you'd be surprised how many still do it every year. Not all are as good as the Benoits but it still gets done each season in these parts.

They taught a lot of people but the best teacher is just hopping on a fresh track and following. Good things can happen.

Tracking deer in the fresh snow wouldn't be that hard , getting the dam things out after killing one miles from the road would be the hard part.

I hunted terrain similar to what the Benoits did in Maine, so I am familiar with the difficulty. In 1974 I was fortunate enough to harvest an 11 point monster with a heavily palmated rack in Northern Aroostook County near Umcolcus. The buck weighed 254# field dressed, I was hunting a twitch road and caught him crossing a small log yard. I was 17 miles off the paved road and could only get my four wheel drive rig within 3 miles or so. It took two days to get that buck out of the woods, myself and my guide and a homemade bicycle wheel cart. The axle of the bicycle wheel broke after the first mile or so, from there on we carried that buck and the cart, probably 275# of dead weight the remaining 2 miles to the truck. Toughest job getting a deer out of the woods of the remaining 40+ years of my deer hunting career. RIP Larry and Lane.

Maybe not so hard to track on fresh snow but in the book "big bucks the Benoit way" it says Lane was a master of bare ground tracking and that he tracked and killed many that way.

I try it once in a while, Bob, but there's not much I can do within 600 or so yards.

Following them is easy....sort of.. killing them is another story ..they run you in circles and double back after they figure you are on them.They have more tricks than we do brains to deal with it.

Getting them out is just work, not the hardest part really and far easier than killing them.When you have to get them out, the hard part is over. Time to relax and take your time. Enjoy.

Worst drag I ever had took the better part of two days, leaving him on the mountain at 9 at night and coming back next day.

Depending on the type of snow, it can be pretty noisy stalking through. Usually easier said than done.

We left my bruiser buck in the woods overnight too, stopped carrying him and what remained of the cart when it became too dark. Stood the cart as near upright in a big hemlock and brushed the carcass in well with evergreen boughs to keep the coyotes from making a meal out of my trophy.

The human scent you left cutting brush probably did more to protect your deer than the brush did. Its easier to cut your drawers off and hang them on a nearby limber limd then whip it out and piss on them. I havent had coyotes take deer or elk yet with that tx.

And the Neighbors watching you got a Hell of a Kick out of the whole thing!

I don't care what your tracking them in, it ain't easy. Never made a whitetail easy. Dumb luck, yes. Tons of quiet fresh powder and you choose the right track out of 50 and you zig instead of zag. AND you catch him not looking right at you, and you don't miss and you don't get buck fever. And it's the horny bastard you were following and not a spike and someone else doesn't shoot it 50 yards from the knob your facing and it's now dark......

Ok, one set of fresh tracks down.....

W