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-   -   Best deer hunter you ever knew? (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/whitetail-deer-hunting/427041-best-deer-hunter-you-ever-knew.html)

Father Forkhorn 11-17-2021 08:19 AM

Best deer hunter you ever knew?
 
This just to get some action on the board.

So, who's the best deer hunter you've come across? I myself can't compare a lot of them because most of my hunting's been alone and in a small group, but two guys stand out.

One was a guy who lived in an area that didn't produce big deer, but he could spot deer like no one I've ever seen: He could spot deer lying on the ground in a thicket as you drove around. His tags got punched every year no problem.

The next guy was someone I didn't even know was a hunter, but he showed me his basement recently with a bunch of racks that would probably make the books. All taken from a farm he has in the county over.

mrbb 11-17-2021 09:38 AM

this topic hits home for me now!
As the best deer hunter and in general woodman I ever knew was a guy that lived down the road from my uncle when I was a kid
I was a very outdoors kid, always in the forests wandering about, (be it on foot or on my many motorcycles) and would come across him all over the area, some times miles from his home!,
My first yr deer hunting, I shot a buck with my bow , a bad hit, or, should say happened so fast and being new, I didn;t see the impact!, deer ran off, no blood or hair, I searched for about an Hour, and decided to walk back out(had a 2 mile walk out)
and see if I coudl maybe find some help(no one in my family hunted or any of there friends )
as I was walking out I again ran into this guy as he was wandering about looking for mushrooms
he asked me how my hunt was going, told him the details, and he , simply said, OK< come on, I ll find your deer for you as long as you hit it!
and he had 100% confidence he would find it!
we ended up tracking, or should say HE tracked it, I never seen any blood and NO clue HOW he tracked it
there was NO blood, , we went about 1/2 mile or so zig zagging across a mt side, and then he STOPPED me, and said, GET READY, as I still had my bow with me!
nocked an arrow, we slowly walked a little more, stopping often, and he spotted the deer bedded down, I made another shot this time, good, and got my first buck with a bow
Only now we were a good mile or more from the truck, and I wasn't sure how we were getting that deer back UP the MT side and back to a road!, and then I had NO clue how I was getting it back to where I was staying,a s, being a kid, I never thought that far ahead LOL

this guy offered again to help me , in dragging deer out and even offered to go get his truck and haul it back to where I was staying
as we dragged and hauled, he gave me a brief history about himself , as I was asking questions on hunting, and he explained to me , used to be a hunting guide in Maine, as after Vietnam, he moved into a cabin in the woods in the middle of NO where, and to make ends meet he started taking hunters out!, when we were driving out we stopped at his house to let his wife know where he was so long(no cell phone back then)
and offered to show me some of his deer he had killed, as he had many mounted and ton's of racks on several walls
NEVER in my life did I ever see so many HUGE Bucks, it was amazing to see !
at the time he had two McKenzie Timber Wolfs as pets too, and MAN were they BIG dogs and OH so friendly and trained, they , as a KID I thought that was just awesome, and I'd of gave kidney for one of them LOL

the man was a true outdoors man , he lived like Jeremiah Johnson,
the man coudl track anything any where like no one I ever seen or even know of! ( he once helped me track another deer that ran over a mile and half, before we found it ) and he did that again on NO blood just tracking , I still don;t know how he did it!, but the whole time, he was as confident as could be! he seen things I sure didn;t!, and I recovered a LOT of deer in my yrs, and still not close to his level of tracking!

one of his hobbies was walking around in the dark in the local forest and tracking critters and NEVER used a flashlight and picking Indian head arrow heads, and he had 55 gallon drums full of them! just amazing how many he had!


I swear you ever seen a person like this, there amazing, they almost walk making NO noise even in dry leaves,
it used to blow my mind how he could get around and so close to animals, ro sneak up on YOU and you never hear or see him coming!

it set goals I Tried to meet, but never came close!( have managed to sneak up on most types critters' and touch them, something he used to do, and got me into as a challenge to meet )
but I still wish I had HALF his skills and knowledge of the outdoors! and all things associated with it he had!


AS the yrs passed I got to know the mam very well, ( I lived almost a 100 miles from him, or I WISH I could have had him teach me things, but I only got to spend time with him, now and then so never got to learn from him, a regret I have as he would have been the perfect person to learn from)

the things he did and stories he told were just amazing and some scary and some sad!
HE was the BEST deer hunter and hunter tracker period,, I ever knew and doubt I will ever meet anyone close to
As he had his demon's, the several tours he did in Vietnam , all the people he killed(and he had a high count there)
left its toll on him, and last yr he sadly ended his life, Cancer was getting to him, and the past haunted him more than I guess he could handle, he is dearly missed now by me, and I wish I knew he struggled as much as he did, doubt I could have changed anything, but at least could have been a better friend maybe, ? as some times that means more than other things!, but cannot go back in time!~

an ironic thing about him, that always made me smile/laugh!
was in the almost 40 some yrs I knew him, I never ONCE ever seen him or his wife NOT wearing Camo~! LOL
so he gets MY vote for the best deer hunter I ever knew!


Father Forkhorn 11-17-2021 10:08 AM


Originally Posted by mrbb (Post 4398934)
he gets MY vote for the best deer hunter I ever knew!

He might be one of the best deer hunters period.

That's an amazing story!

Popgunshooter 11-17-2021 04:26 PM

Years ago when I shot competitive archery I shot for Bear Archery and the rep had all of Fred Bear's mounted bucks at his ranch in Wisconsin. I got to see some of the most awesome bucks you could ever imagine, most from Nebraska. Well at a bowhunting shoot (just attending not competing) there was a food tent with no one inside except FRED BEAR! He even knew who I was since I shot for Bear. We sat and talked one on one for over an hour. Was one of the biggest thrills of my life.. He always has a drink in his hand and was one hell of a nice guy. So I guess he's the best hunter I ever knew.

CalHunter 11-18-2021 08:37 AM

Wow mrbb. That guy would have been amazing to hunt with or even just to hang out with.

mrbb 11-18-2021 10:48 AM


Originally Posted by CalHunter (Post 4398996)
Wow mrbb. That guy would have been amazing to hunt with or even just to hang out with.

he was quite the character, never really hunted with him, as hunting was something he liked to do alone, and pretty much kept to himself, a loner of sorts
but I have many fond memories of the times I did get to spent with him chatting and hiking or wandering the woods he loved so much .
had it not been for his wife, he would have never moved into a town, even as rural as where he lived was,
he was happier in the middle of now where living off the land
but his wife forced him to move closer to town, and thus, that's the only reason I got to meet and know him LOL

but the man could have filled books with interesting stories of events in his life, !
he didn;t just talk the talk, he walked the walk !


Champlain Islander 11-18-2021 12:25 PM

Wasn't a friend and I never hunted with him but he was a living legend around these parts for almost all my life. We had a family deer camp that I went to since I was 10 years old. It was in a small town named Waitsfield right at the foot of a major ski area. When traveling from my home town to that camp we had to pass a small farm house that was right along Vermont Rt 100. The people who lived there were big time deer hunters that always had big racked bucks hanging off the porch. Year after year on the way home from camp it became a tradition to stop and look at the trophies that were lined up that were shot by father and sons along with some nephews. We were decent deer hunters and occasionally had more than a couple smaller bucks but those people always had several huge racked bucks all lined up hanging on the porch. One day after I became a 30 something adult on the last day of the season I decided to swing by that place on the way home to check on the deer they had hanging. True to form there were 6 huge bucks that were 8 point or better. I was ready to leave when the door opened and the legend Larry Benoit stepped out on the porch with a cup of coffee. He said hi and asked if I wanted to come in for a cup of coffee and talk some hunting. I bolted up the steps and entered a large room filled wall to wall with huge deer heads. In the middle of a raised ceiling hung a large fish net that had dozens if not hundreds of deer antlers. His gun of choice was a Remington 760 pump in 30-06 with open sights. The stock was all notched and engraved showing many many successful deer hunts and was in a place on the wall with his famous green and black checked Johnson Woolen Mill coat, pants and hat hanging nearby. I have a signed copy of his first book "How to bag the biggest buck of your life" that sits proudly on my bookshelf. Many years ago I bought a new 7600 in 30-06 with open sights and did quite a bit of still hunting in the big woods although I never had Larry's success on deer dressing over 200 pounds. Larry and his 3 sons became famous by tracking down and killing big bucks in the big woods of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and later Northern Ontario. He was a true legend and sadly passed in 2013 at the age of 89.

Bocajnala 11-18-2021 01:42 PM

I've read everything I could from the Benoit's. Very cool that you met him.

This is a tough question to answer. Can you be there greatest Hunter if you only use a rifle? The archery guys wouldn't say so. What if you only archery hunt and usually get it done in the early season? The late season rifle hunters probably think that's easy.

And depends on how you define "best". Is it the guy who always fills his tags? The guy who always takes the biggest bucks? The guy who routinely fills tags on tough public land?

The best hunter that I can think of right now is a former regular member here. He went by the name of Bukmastr I believe. Dan Infalt. Has his own forum and YouTube channel now. Guy regularly kills big mature deer on hard pressured land. I've learned a ton by watching and reading his stuff. Although I don't know him personally. This photo speaks for itself and it's years old by now. He's added allot more.



He changed how I approach hunting deer. And although I don't chase big bucks like he does, I often try, and have luck, at shooting deer right out of their beds. I learned the basics of doing that by studying what Infalt was saying. And changing it to match my style.

The best Hunter I know of personally.... Really hard to say. Most of the hunters I hunt with are more casual hunters, or benefited from very high deer populations. I have a great uncle who shot hundreds of deer in his lifetime. Many on crop damage permits, and even on state park reduction hunts. He took 13 one day. Guy killed a ton of deer. But benefited from being in the right line of work to do that. I wouldn't say he's necessarily the greatest Hunter.

I guess I don't really know who the greatest Hunter I ever knew is. I had a great uncle who was the best squirrel hunter I ever saw though. We'd go out, get a few here or there, and he'd get his limit every time.

-Jake

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faseh67 11-19-2021 07:36 AM

The Buck Brawler Meshach Browning (1781-1859) was not the first to chronicle hunting life on the early frontier, but his Forty-Four years of the Life of a Hunter focuses more squarely on deer than others. Although equally known as a bear hunter, Browning had a reputation as a deerslayer of legendary drive and toughness. His knife fight with a wounded 10-point buck in October 1819 became the subject of a the famous subject of a popular Currier and Ives lithograph made in 1861, and painted by the great A.F. Tait. Browning chronicled the hunt with charm and authenticity in what remains one of the most important records of pioneer deer hunting.


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