I don’t remember how I became friends with Larry Benoit. I was in my teens and Larry was old enough to be my father. When my father died, I was only twelve years old and Larry’s reputation as a great deer hunter was something that I thought could help fill a big void.
Some very strong ties
My father left the same hunting legacy that Larry had now, and there was even some physical resemblance. I certainly saw Larry as a surrogate father figure in a younger version.
Number two in the sequence of birth and the oldest child of nine children, Lanny is five months younger than me. We became close friends and apparently gave Larry two kids to run around and party with and that’s what we did for years.
How the legend started
Living in our area was a freelance writer named Peter Miller. I’m embarrassed that I can’t remember which outdoor sports magazine Peter contributed his biodocumentary on Larry to. The life of the Benoits who hunted deer would never be the same again.
WDEV is the local radio station in Waterbury, VT., And is owned by Ken Squire. At the time, Ken was broadcasting many of the NASCAR races for CBS, and it was no problem getting a film crew to film a segment on Larry.
Peter eventually followed up with two additional articles and putting the three together became a book. He transitioned to prodigious notoriety at Larry’s Realm. When hunting season approached, his house only had room to stand.
Did not ask for all this
An inordinate number of out-of-state hunters, some of them celebrity hunters, some fantasizing that Larry would spread the word about where to go and how to “do it,” and others with the consummate illusion of being able to hunt with Larry at the Benoit house. .
Someone being my best friend suddenly overwhelmed by good luck was exciting to me in the sense that I was happy for him. At the same time, I wasn’t impressed because, after all, he’s my best friend, Larry. By then I had known him for a long time.
Here is Lanny
As a consequence of exposure and rumors of being a better hunter than his father, in addition to previous and continued success in Drag Racing (Another Life with the Benoit Family), Lanny was as popular and sought after as his father. It was a fabulous moment for me just by looking.
Let’s go hunting
I don’t remember the year, just that I was still in my 20s when I decided that if I was going to hunt deer it wouldn’t be with my best friends.
I didn’t shoot a deer that year, but I did provide important muscles by dragging a 145 buck, that of mother Benoit (Ikie), a 193 pound brute, Lanny, and a 225-pound monster, Larry. All about bare ground; If you’ve never had the upset, let me tell you, it’s equivalent to pulling a wagon without wheels.
The young continue
Last I heard, the Benoit clan doesn’t usually hunt in Vermont anymore. They are mainly found in Maine, where the white tails are larger and the hunters are less per square mile.
By the time I turned forty, Lane and Shane, the last two children, numbers seven and eight of the Benoit nine, had been hunting for several years. In another moment lost in my memory, Lane shot an insanely huge 284-pound dollar somewhere in Maine.
284 pounds, I would never have lived to write this story.