VERMONT SPORTS HALL OF FAME

(photo credit: Marius Bugge, Field and Stream Magazine)

Outdoors- Hunting
Waterbury
Inducted 2012

Larry Benoit grew up on a small hardscrabble farm in the mountains of Vermont at a time when a successful hunt could mean the difference between having meat on the table or going without.

Benoit became so successful at tracking and bagging the large, mature bucks of northern Vermont and Maine in the deep woods known for low deer densities and lower hunter success fates that he was called “The Best Deer Hunter in America” in a 1970 cover story of Sports Afield magazine. Fellow hunters and Vermonters often traveled to his Duxbury home to see the giant deer hanging from his porch.

Over the years, Benoit’s exploits have been the subject of numerous national and regional magazine articles, many of which described him as a “living legend.”

In 1975, Benoit co-authored the seminal deer-tracking book “How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life.” The book, since reprinted, sparked a nationwide interest in tracking and turned many of the sit-and-wait hunters into skilled, active trackers. He also co-authored several other popular books.

Benoit passed on his love and skill for hunting to his sons, Lanny, Shane and Lane Benoit. Each is among the best trackers of his generation, extending the Benoit legacy throughout deer camps across the country.

Larry Benoit’s legacy is still readily seen today in Vermont and the north woods of New England where hunters, many clad in his signature green-checkered wool jacket, search for large, fresh track every fall, using the skills he has passed along for a hunting style he has popularized.

Benoit passed away in 2013 at the age of 89.