Brotherhood Outdoors

Wayne "Kip" Benoit, a union steelworker (USW Local 750) from Boutte, Louisiana, "pretty much grew up in the swamp," where he hunts deer, ducks, rabbits, frogs and those giant toothy reptiles we call alligators.

  Kip, a plant operator for the calcium chloride unit, has also worked as an instrument tech on nuclear plants around the country. Using his skills with tools and equipment as well as his lifetime of knowledge about the Louisiana swamp lands, Kip maintains roads, ponds and waterways on the hunting lease he shares with his friends and where he often takes young hunters to pass on our hunting legacy.

  His skills also came in handy when Hurricane Katrina hit. Kip used his airboat to help rescue and transfer patients from the intensive care unit of a New Orleans hospital to the ambulances waiting on high ground.

  "Heading down streets in a city covered by the flood with people wading by up to their necks in water was like being in one of those doom’s day movies, something Spielberg might make; it was just unreal," Kip said.  "People were stunned and, for the most part, very quiet and very cooperative."

  Kip joined the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance after learning about the organization at a union convention in Las Vegas. Shortly after, he sent in a picture of a gator he’d caught and won a Buck knife in the USA’s Photo of the Week contest. He didn’t think he’d have the same luck getting on an episode of the USA’s Brotherhood Outdoors TV series, but he filled out an application anyway.

  "I knew one thing for sure-there’s a 100 percent chance you won’t get chosen if you don’t try, and after winning the buck knife, I was feeling optimistic," Kip said.

  When Kip learned he had been chosen to guide Brotherhood Outdoor’s host Tom Ackerman on a Louisiana gator hunt, his goal was to show the audience "the real swamp, which is a very special place."

  "I wanted them to see it from my boat, and I wanted them to see a big gator trashing around and tearing up the area-it’s pretty exciting stuff," Kip said.

  Kip described Ackerman as a witty and funny guy, who got the swamp, the gators and the way of life down there immediately. "He could have been raised down here; the man was all eyes and ears from the minute we met," Kip said.

  The gators cooperated and, during Ackerman’s stay, this swamp-traipsing duo put some trophy size reptiles in the boat.  "We had one encounter with a big unrestrained gator crossing a flooded road, and I was gonna let Tom shoot him. But at the last minute, I thought better of it," Kip said.  "I could just see that gator chewing on Tom’s leg and my TV career ending before it began."

  Kip dispatched the 10 footer with a shot from his .22. Not to be outdone, Ackerman got into the act and shot an 11 foot trophy, weighing an estimated 400 pounds. Together they wrestled the 300 to 400 pound monsters into the boat, "which isn’t a job for a single man," according to Kip. 

  Alligator meat is in high demand among Kip’s family and friends, and a good one will provide 60-80 pounds of prime protein. Kip Benoit is a true swamp man! 

  Then watch Kip and Tom muscle in some big Louisiana gators.  Tune in to Brotherhood Outdoors on Sportsman Channel at 8 p.m. on Thursday, January 12. 

  In the meantime, check out a five minute YouTube video starring our intrepid Swamp Man and a swamp buggy-tree stand he uses to hunt whitetails http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anFo28iIQuM