Trad Gang

Here in the west we may say that the elk 'crossed through the saddle,' but if you didn't spend time here you may not know that a saddle can be either a seat on a horse or a gentle gap/pass between mountain peaks.  Likewise, if I went hunting in the south I wouldn't know what a 'holler' was except for a form or yelling.  So first, what is a 'holler?' ... and what other terms are used in your part of the country to describe something a fellow hunter might run into?     :)

I've heard young of the year deer called "skippers" or "lambs"here in Maine.

A holler is a small valley. "Down in the holler."

A hollow spot, so to speak. Usually horseshoe in shape. If you see a copper keg, smoke, and copper coiled tubing and smell a raw sour smell, RUN THE OTHER WAY!!!!

It would be on either side of the 'saddle."

Here in California we carefully stay away from area occupied by 'growers'-do you have them in other parts of the country?

A holler is a dense patch of low woods preferably with a crick runnin through it.  Alternate use: "holler like a stuck pig."     ;)    

You also have to sometimes read between the lines.  When A Southerner says that, "The reason I love hunting is to be out in nature," they actually might mean "I love being at the deer camp eating till I bust, drinking and playing cards all night."

If you ever hear a southern man say "Boys we've commenced to ballhootin'" Grab your hat and hold on son.

Out West we have "draws" and "coolies".

Now a coolie is not some Asian guy running around in a straw hat.

Once I did hear a gritty eyed guide answer a greenhorn about just exactly what a coolie was...said something to the effect that a coolie was a quickie in the snow.

Bob

'Ballhootin!'...now that's one that I've surely never heard before.  And I'm almost afraid to ask what it means....there are children here , of course.

How about - "Huntin upsum yonder".

More family game references than regional but some may be applicable

Bun-Bun - rabbit

Bambi- Small deer

Thunder chicken - grouse

timber doodle - woodcock

Tree rat - squirrel

Yogi - bear

Bandit - racoon

Up for north and down for south but east/west are east/west?????

><>
Glenn

All of my direction giving begins with one word.... "takingodown". As used in a sentence, "Ya' takingodown this herin trale for a mite aforn y'a turn tords de holler.

  :saywhat:  
Danny

Skippers for young of the year deer around here

I use the term "cut" pretty loosely with my buddy when refering to parts of a mountain

QuoteOriginally posted by Geezer:
'Ballhootin!'...now that's one that I've surely never heard before.  And I'm almost afraid to ask what it means....there are children here , of course.

HAHA im from the mountains of NC we have more "isms" thank anywhere.

Here off the top of my head.

Ballhootin'-loss of control, sliding.

Sigoggled- Crooked.

Airish- Windy.

Boomer- Red Squrriell

Mt. Dew- Moonshine\\

Round Steak- Bologna

to be honest, I hit on this thread just hoping to
find out what "colloquialism" was.LOL!!

We have jagger bushes in Pa and yes they jag ya. (thorn bushes, green brier...)

and for what its worth I have no idea what a colloquialism would be. Maybe we don't have them in Pa   :confused:

Kinda' like bein'  "All-WhopperJawed".  Just Crooked as a Dogs HindLeg.
 "Dont go that way, its Full of Briars & Brambles"! Love it, Love it!  :biglaugh:    :laughing:

Out here in Cali, on the long ridges you will have small cuts, draws, from top tothe bottom , we call them finger canyons or just fingers, Like, im going to drop down in that finger and work my way down.

When in Arkansas out in the woods my son will say lets go up that mountain, i look at him a say son were from California, that's not a mountain that's a foothill. So i guess a small bump on the ground just before you get to a mountain her in Cali, is called a mountain in Arkansas.   :)

Over Yonder = too far to walk.

Skidaddled = left in a bit of a hurry

Gallusses = hold up my hunting pants if no belt

Fix'n 2= Getting ready

Tree House = Permanent tree stand

Other than these we speak pretty proper English ova-hyear in my neck-of-the-woods.

hoofin' it = hurriedly hiking
'bou = caribou
toad = big brown or black bear
volkswagon = very big brown bear
smurf = small black bear
snogo = snowmobile
cheechako = person new to Alaska
sourdough = longtime resident of Alaska
skookum = savvy
wheedle = meander thru

Where I came from in Ga. we would go down to the "Branch", or across the "Branch" a lot.

Branch is a thin strip of thick woods with a creek running through it.

"We'll be there dreckly" (hillbilly for "directly"). Usually means after while.  If you get tarred waitin' you kin allus sit in a cheer--usually one with four laigs.

One interesting term I heard in Maine was the word "skun" for skinned as in "We skun four bears yesterday."

All of us westerners know what a 'slow elk' is, but maybe those from other regions don't. Any answers from non westerners??

Another western term: a monster mule deer that lives in the most rugged country-- a Rock Eater

'slow elk'= cow

Jeet... questioning whether you'd taken your sustenance yet.

Crik... small stream

God bless,Mudd

Prairie Goat : Antelope
Red Up : Get the Cabin Cleaned
Skippers : It Belongs to Joe Skipp....

Light a Shuck - get outa here!
Gone Yonder - Passed On!
Fer Sure an' Fer Certain - Truth!
That Youngn's so Ulgy, his Mam's gotta tie a Pok Chop Bone Round His neck just ta get the Dawgs ta Play wit Him!
Straight as Daddy's Furrow! - Honest!
Woods Rat - Squriel!
Well I Swanny! - I'm just Amazed!
Takin' Shank's Mare - Walking
Jago? - Did you go?
Get on ya, like white on rice! - You're fixin' ta tote a Whooping!
Best thing since sliced Bread! - Good

Just some I thought of.  Here in the South, we got a gunny sack full of 'em!

Prize it off. Means to pry.
Retch around and wrench it off. Reach over and wash it off.

This is a hobby of mine. I had to mull it and between pesky customers I had to delete prior mentions, like slow elk.

From west central Illinois originally, where there is a difference between a crick and a creek, I've picked up these from my adopted home:

A cut is a sharp, narrow saddle. A pass is a high saddle. A coulee is bigger than a gulch but smaller than a canyon. (I miss using "holler".)

Jack strawed = downed timber laying every which way and in multiple layers, hard to get through. "Man, Buttermilk Butte has some nice bucks, but it's so jack strawed it takes all day to go 10 yards."

Native = ruffed grouse. (Native pheasant)

Be-in's as = because or "seeing as though". As in "Bein's as it's colder'n a cat's ass, I'm heading for the barn."

Offn ... as in "'Course we're lost, bein's as we got offn the trail four hours ago."

Floor = bottom. The whitetails are on the floor and the muleys are on the shoulders.

Whistle pig = rock chuck = groundhog = marmot

Rank = thick & ornery in the rut, as in "That bull was sure rank."

Corn flakes (aka Wheaties) what you walk on when it's dry.

snow cone = rotten snow the consistency of snow cone ice.

Owly = looking around suspiciously "I wasn't busted, but that buck was really owly."

Fool's Hen = Franklin's grouse, NOT a spruce grouse, NOT a blue grouse. (The distinction could be colloquial. This usually causes arguments, kinda like "raghorn" which I'm not touchin')

Hooter = a big old lone male blue grouse that tastes like Pinesol and chews like saddle leather, best used in "scrapple"... how that recipe got clear out here I don't know, but here, it's yellow corn mush cooked slow with old grouse instead of pork then sliced & fried.

Skylighted = standing stuck out on the horizon, something not to do, whether you are man or beast.

Doughball = taken from fishing but used in hunting, the opposite of "pro from Dover" to put it politely. Replaces "roadhunter."

Staub = the broken branch that you drive through your tire when you're driving on a spur which is where you're not supposed to be if you crossed the ditch called a water bar, and definitely if you're driving up on a skid, where the staubs are fierce.

Snag = an upright dead broken off tree, usually a landmark. "The top of the skid leading down to the wallow is right below that big snag."

Then there is that whole "camp robber" "whiskey jack" "Steller's jay" "Canada jay" thing which I'm still scratching my chin over...

Riz an flew= took flight as in "That turkey seen me and riz an flew outta there."

sandwich meat= deer fawn

skillet head= doe
who hit John= whiskey
mobile blind= vehicle
hoofin it= walking fast
ol blackie= bear
banch= narrow flat area that goes around a mountain
sidelin= walking sideways

Here in Michigan we birdhunt for "Pats". Better known as Ruffed Grouse or Partridge.

how about booner = big anything
dead head = stump sticking up in the river
crick = creek

bomber or b52- big and tough sage chickens
buzzworm- rattlesnake
black hole- deep, dark timber where elk like to hang out

Ditch Chicken = Pheasant
buzzworms = rattlesnake
thunder chicken= turkey
slickies = doe
fuzzbutts = rabbits
nut munchers = squirrels
fun thread by the way!!!   :biglaugh:

I've heard of "down by the holler, up by the paw paw" I still dony know what that means...  :dunno:

Couple more from Colorado.

"Quakies" aspen trees
"Dark timber" stands of conifers in the aspens, where the bigguns hang out.
"Prairie goats" antelope
"two track" a Jeep road consisting of two ruts

Rustic, paw paw is a berry bearing bush.

Paw Paw's aren't berries,they're hillbilly bananas.LOL  :biglaugh:

Try these on for size:
 Hell hole-where you find a big mule deer buck or bull elk once the rifles start going off
 bench-sort of a flat, well, bench...running parallel along the side of a ridge.
 notch-a small, v shaped saddle that is usually used to cross over a ridge without being skylined
 "a little warm"- "If I shoot something in this heat I need to get it to a freezer in less than 12 hours...(this is usually the phrase used by optimistic elk hunters in early September)
 "chilly today"-temperature a little below freezing, usually with a light wind.
 "light wind"- 10-20 miles an hour
 "cold out"- 10 degrees or less with some wind and usually a snow squall if you have to walk anywhere
 "some wind"- 20-30 miles an hour

That's all I have from Montana

Fuzzies -ground squirrels ,ground rats -ground squirrels. tree rats -tree squirrels. rats with wings- barn pegions.Nice buck, Any thing above a fork on one side and a spike on the other. Dog , coyote. song dog, coyote. String tail, coyote with mange real bad.

This is great! I grew up in GA and definitely have heard some of the colloquialisms mentioned here and then I moved to MT and didn't have a clue what my Uncle was saying about some stuff (still don't). Only one I can think of right now that I haven't seen so far is:
Speed Goat or just goats: Antelope

"Hightailed it": Anytime anything takes off at a high rate of speed.

"Pucker bushes": Those nasty plants with thorns on em.

"Twitch Path": From Maine...The trails through the woods caused by "skiddas" pulling the logs out to the "yaad"...I think...  :dunno:

What uins up to, goin down to the crick and wash up for supper.

Jigger bushes/sticker bushes- Briar bushes
Goat path- Oil pump road
Perididdle or pine squirrel- Red squirrel
P*** oak or stink oak- A pin oak tree
Bottom- Any low lying area, usually swampy
Dog or dogs- The guy(s) who get in the brush to jump rabbits when hunting without real dogs

That's all I got. Neat thread.

Got to get shed of this cold.

"Beat cheeks" - Hurried fast..."we beat cheeks around the point to cut off the buck"

Oh, and in the South if you say "what are some of yous guys hunting colloquialisms," people will probably run away, someting like "y'all got any good huntin sayins or expressions" would probably work better.

the one i remember best is "hornin"! its been 20 yrs. or better but i was hunting with a old timer and after a day or two he ask if id saw any "hornin"? i replied no but i saw where a buck had rubbed some big trees!

hornin=rub
bust him= shoot him
smoke pole= muzzleloader
howitzer= anything over a 243!
slick head=doe
bullwinkle=big buck

I'll meet you at 6AM--means I'll be there between 6:30 and 10 o'clock.

What time you headin' back out?-- means how long of a nap do you need and should we put some food on.

-Hit behind the "front shoulder"  Does a deer have a back shoulder?

-Goofiest one to me:  "toboggan".  In the south I guess that's a hat.  To the rest of the world it is a sled!

- Use of "stick and string" when a guy carries a compound really bugs me! (And I am not a compound hater!)

Fairy Diddle = a true red squirrel (not a fox squirrel)

Orda = Ought to

I'll think of some more later......I'm sure.

Winterhawk1960

QuoteOriginally posted by KSdan:
-Hit behind the "front shoulder"  Does a deer have a back shoulder?

-Goofiest one to me:  "toboggan".  In the south I guess that's a hat.  To the rest of the world it is a sled!

- Use of "stick and string" when a guy carries a compound really bugs me! (And I am not a compound hater!)

I have never understood the " front shoulder" funny you mention it i asked a guy about it yesterday, And about the Toe-boggon, I've never heard of it being a sled??

Funny thread!    :biglaugh:

Great thread!
I heard a TXan tell his son to stay away from the holler.  we were up at the Royal Gorge. The RG is a canyon that is 1053 feet deep!

rag horn = young bull elk
'a good hit but a little fall back' = gut shot.

Another thing about Michigan - when you stop to pick up a can of cold soda, you really want "a cold pop".

In Tenn if you ask for a coke, they'll ask you what kind... I know!...lol

That good ole boy in the country store had me about as baffled as they come...lol

God bless, Mudd

Swamp Donkey---moose

Speed goat---antelope

Boots...as in my truck needs new boots---tires

galoshes, gumboots, wellies---rubber boots

Got any documents?----got any rolling papers?

blueberry blonde---native girl

sled---ski-doo

raghorn---small elk, which incidentally is my specialty!

banana horn---small sheep

Since I just got back from a trip to the Grand Canyon, all these terms about hollers, draws, etc., got me to thinking. Now THIS is a holler!
(http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac67/peastes/8929ce48.jpg)

Michigan 11 point = spike
Michigan 12 point = spike on one side fork on the other
split tail = doe
Muy Grande = a very big buck me and a buddy hunted in Oklahoma for 3 years and never had a shot
Here in Michigan the yoopers (those that live in the upper peninsula) call those of us that live in the lower peninsula "trolls" because we live below the bridge.  The yoopers sing a song about a "tirdy point buck"... you guessed it; 3 on one side, broke off on the other.
fun stuff here!

"Blowdown".  Some folks don't know that's the term used for a fallen tree.  Jeeesh!    :dunno:

A couple more. Squeeks- ground squirrels. To chill-calm down after you shoot or see a good one. A good one-any thing thats leagal.In the rocks -above the tree line.Toy poodle,Chawawa ect.- Coyote bait.Kitty-bobcat. Big kitty moutain lion. long ears -jack rabbits. O dark thirty some time before day break.

Anything big, ie, fish, deer, turkey, or whatever. = "Moo-con"

Act of shooting a animal until dead = "Putt'in the quadhedous on'em"

First one came from an old friend and the second is all mine.  Neither can figure out orgin, but still use to this day.

When we turkey hunt we go out and get "buried up next to a log."

If we only have a couple of guys deer hunting, one of us goes and gets "buried up" and "gets quiet" and the other one "makes a circle." This involves "sneaking" through the property in a zig zag pattern in sort of a two person deer drive.

My grandfather refers to any centerfire cartridge smaller than. 243 as a "needle blower."

Slammer : Big buck

Molly : Big Doe

Bushytail : Squirrel

Floppy Ears : Mulie Doe

Four Point : Western count for eight point

Stumpin' : Roving or Stumpshooting

Layed Him Low : Short blood trail to dead animal
Pads Up or Toe Nails in the Air: How you should find your dead bear.

Eh? : Canadian for "Do you understand?"

Skiff= a very small amount of snowfall.

Grinnie= Chipmunk

QuoteOriginally posted by TRAD101:
to be honest, I hit on this thread just hoping to
find out what "colloquialism" was.LOL!!

Me too!!

I saw some Elk in a "park"....open meadow or field

QuoteOriginally posted by Roger Norris:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by TRAD101:
to be honest, I hit on this thread just hoping to
find out what "colloquialism" was.LOL!!

Me too!! [/b]

Me three!!  

Come on Killy  :dunno:    :dunno:

Here in WV we hunt the "hog backs"... or finger ridges off a main ridge.

I stopped in a small store in the eastern mountains and asked for a hershey bar... the woman with a mustache (really!) asked "male or female?"... I didn't have a clue.

She wanted to know if I wanted one with or without nuts!

True story.

I have several colloquialisms:

"The deer must have jumped the arrow!" ----> "I missed"
"The arrow hit a twig!"----> I missed.
"My arrow must have been bent, cuz..." ----> "I missed"

Contrary to popular belief, the Canadian "Eh" is a subtle creature. It can mean anything from "do you agree with me" to "What the heck did you just say" or even "You better have brought some beer."

If'n you happen to be a Bitterrooter

You like your java "hotter than a 2-dolla pistol"

And "thick enuf to float a crow-bar"

'Cause the trail you'll be hikin" is "steeper than a cow's face"

Shoot straight, Shinken

  :archer2:

back east = anywhere but here.

switchback = the zigs and zags of a mountain road or trail.

scabrock = the basalt "eyebrows" on steep canyon slopes.

hun = hungarian partridge

doghair thicket = brush too thick to get a horse through

I heard a guy from Maine use the word "Corker"...except it sounded a lot different coming from his mouth.  At the lodge the waitress lay a turkey on the table, he got excited and said, "My, sheze a cocka".

I'm still not sure what he meant.

"That bull is horny as a 3 peckered billy goat".

"That javelina would stink a dog off a gut wagon".

"That gut pile would gag a maggot".

'Monster' = What we think -    :thumbsup:  


'Ground Shrinkage' = What our wives think -    

Indian Hen-Pileated Woodpecker
Flatheads-Doe deer

QuoteOriginally posted by str8jct:
Rustic, paw paw is a berry bearing bush.

Thanks Dwight, Now my life is complete.  :biglaugh:

colloquialism, the use of informal expressions appropriate to everyday speech rather than to the formality of writing, and differing in pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar. An example is Kipling's ballad beginning

When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre
He'd 'eard men sing by land and sea;
An' what he thought 'e might require,
'E went an'took—the same as me!
 :scared:

A friend who is particularly creative with cute sayings has defined several strategies for hunting:

"jump em and dump em"
"spot em and pot em"
"whack em and pack em"

Also, after hearing my elk hunting exploits for a large number of years he came up with sayings to summarize a season's effort and results:

"Many are called but few are frozen", and
"Many answered the call but few took a fall"

QuoteOriginally posted by Geezer:
I heard a guy from Maine use the word "Corker"...except it sounded a lot different coming from his mouth.  At the lodge the waitress lay a turkey on the table, he got excited and said, "My, sheze a cocka".

I'm still not sure what he meant.

Someone or something that is extra-special, very nice, top of the line, the best...etc.

Whenever I heard my Grandfather or Uncles say this it made me smile cause I knew they were pleased.

Me mate had a big night on the "turps" and is a bit "doughy" s'morning... eh.

My friend had too much to drink last night and is not well at all this morning.

eh is tacked onto the end of a sentence, and has many uses, interpretation depends on context, facial expression and temperment, and is peculiar to northern New South Wales and Queenslanders.

If you want to blend in with the locals just talk......real.........slow.........and.... say...... eh .....at the end of each sentence

Mind you, all you guys over the pond cant talk proper anyhow    :biglaugh:

Was at my buddy's deercamp in rock mi in da upper at pat's corner bar having a few coolies (beers)one night. they had a gal spinnin records and it was kinda slow no one dancing. So i had her play the chicken dance and the hokey pokey and had the crowed fired up a bit to much for one of the local's he called me a appleknocker ????

Swale : a gradual drop to lower ground where if it had been longer and deeper it would have been a valley.
Pastie : a nipple cover everywhere but the Mich.U.P. where it is a sort of meat in pastry dish.
Jumpers : Midwestern Canadian term for deer.
Porky : porcupine
Birds : partridge or ruffed grouse
Whistlers : ducks
Snake : pike

Norm from Canuckistan

Gave 'em the bisquit or gave 'em a Zwickey hickey = made a kill shot

You Michiganders are forgetting "yooper"

Like a cow starin at a new gate-That buck was lookin at me like a cow...

hotter n a four ball tomcat
we was on them hogs like ugly on a ape