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HUNTING DICTIONARY
Many obscure terms are used by hunters. This page is dedicated to those terms and what they might mean generally to most hunters. Some serious, some fun...
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Big Game
Hawg - very large buck or bull
Raghorn - Bull or buck with unimpressive antler growth.
Slick Head - Doe or Cow
Forkie - Two point deer or elk
Bambi - yearling deer, elk, or moose
Piebald - Calico colored deer either with white splotches or different colored splotches.
4 X 4, 3 X 2, 5 X 4 - Specific antler count specifying number of forks on each side of a deer or elk's antlers. "Eastern count" adds all points together. "Western count" typically only counts a single side.
Royal bull - 6 X 6 (6 points to a side)
Imperial Bull - 7 X 7 (7 points to a side)
Monarch Bull - 8 X 8 (8 points to a side)
Spike - Single pair of tines no branching
Book animal - An animal whose antlers are of such a size to place in a record book. Boone and Crockett (all weapons) or Pope and Young (archery)
Stand hunting - Sitting in one place either on the ground or in a tree and waiting for animals to come to the hunter.
Still hunting - Walking extremely slowly in a hunting unit while analyzing all details of the surrounding area and hoping to spot a deer unaware.
Spot and stalk hunting - Glassing or looking at a bedded or a stationary animal and planning your hunt towards that location or to an area with a better opportunity for a shot.
Track/Tag soup - an unfilled tag after the days hunt or the end of the season.
Wallow - Elk mud hole used for rutting and for keeping bugs away
Scrape - A pawing of the ground made by rutting deer. Deer will mark their territory by scraping the dirt and urinating in it.
Rub - A place on a tree where deer and elk rub their antlers against. Before the rut, this is to remove excess velvet off of antlers. During the rut, this is to relieve the bull or buck of some frustration.
GMU - Game management unit as defined by the Washington Department of Wildlife. These are subdivisions of counties which are managed as separate and distinct hunting areas.
Glassing - using binoculars or a spotting telescope to look over an area to search for animals.
Ranging - using a range finder to determine the distance an animal or area is away.
Timber tiger - Noisy chipmunk or squirrel.
Birds
Deke - Decoy
Suzy - Hen Mallard
Drake - male duck
Mud Duck/Mud Hen - Coot
Block - Decoy
Spread - Placed decoys in either the water or a field
Blind - Any place you conceal yourself from incoming birds.
Pit Blind - Any Blind dug out of the earth (usually permanent)
Coffin/Layout Blind - Blinds which make the hunter lay on their backs and then rise up and shoot from a seated position.
Sky busting - Taking a long shot at a bird where it is unlikely that the shot will actually effectively kill the bird.
Bluebird day - Warm, windless, cloudless day. (typical opening day of ducks in Washington)
Cold duck hunting day - Below Freezing
Very Cold duck hunting day - You have to chip the ice off of your ducks every hour
Stupid cold duck hunting day - Your boat and decoys all freeze solid in the water and you have to come back in the spring to retrieve them.
Jake - Juvenile male turkey
Tom - Fully matured turkey
Sprig - Pintail duck
Baldpate - Widgeon duck
Lesser - Small or juvenile Canada goose
Greater - Large or fully matured Canada Goose
Speck - Specklebellied Goose
Snow - Snow Goose
Jump shooting - Locating resting or feeding ducks or geese and moving into effective range to shoot.
Sluicing - Shooting waterfowl while the birds are still on the water.
Choke - The end of the barrel will constrict or open to allow a tighter or looser shot pattern. How much it constricts or opens is called choke. SO, 70% Pattern At Given Yardage:
Extra Full - 45 yards.
Full - 40 yards.
Modified - 35 yards.
Improved Cylinder - 30 yards.
Cylinder - 25 Yards.Redleg- Typically the name given to a big Northern fat mallard
Topography
Draw - convergence of two hills where there typically will be a stream or stream bed.
Saddle - a dip along a ridge which is lower than the surrounding hills.
Bench - A typically small area on a hillside that is flat and will be a favored place for an animal to bed down.
Clearcut - Any wide open area where trees have been removed either by loggers or by fire.
Burn - Any wide open area which has been burned over.
Reprod - Any clearcut which has been replanted.
Jack Fir - Reprod between 10 yrs old and 20 yrs old.
Old Growth - Forest which is older than logging.
Second Growth - Forest which is growing in an area where logging has occurred.
Corridor - any area frequently used by animals as a travel zone
Riparian - Land area which butts up against water. Typically the brushy sections in an area that surround streams, ponds, creeks, and the like. Riparian zones are the most key and elemental area in wildlife habitat.
Optics (riflescopes, spotting scopes, range finders and binoculars)
10x42, 8x30, 12x40, ... Definition of the type of optics you are using. The first number is the magnification and the second number is the size of the aperture.
Magnification - How big an object looks through optics, as opposed to the naked eye. Example: using 10x binoculars will make an animal standing 1000 yards away look like he is only 100 yards away. (1000/10 = 100)
Aperture - The diameter of the objective lens of an optical device.
Exit Pupil Size - The size of the round disc of light you see at the eye piece, if you hold the binoculars up, just away from your eyes. The larger the round disc of light, the brighter the object. Human pupils only open 2-5 mm during the day. 5-7 mm at morning light and dusk. You will need an exit pupil size which accommodates the differences in your pupil. The exit pupil size can be measured by Aperture divided by Magnification. Good quality optics will have an exit pupil size of more than 4mm and the disc of light in the eye piece will be very round, not boxy.
Real Field of View - The actual degree of declination that the optical device actually shows. Or the width of the view you see through your optics, expressed in degrees of an arc, which starts at the point of the holder of the device.
Apparent Field of View - refers to the real field of view, with the magnification power of the binoculars taken into account as well.
Lens Coatings - Optical lenses take light and bend it. These lenses are typically made of glass. For all of the reflection off the glass and the lens dynamics itself, over 8% of the light captured will be lost. Lens coatings perform numerous jobs and is why the higher end optics have multiple lens coatings. Coatings can absorb light, reflect light back into the lens, prevent scratching, and the like. Remember, scratched lens blur images and reduce light. Take proper care of your lenses!
Image Stabilization - Gyroscopic, mechanical, or electrical methods to prevent images from shaking. These features will add significantly to the cost of any binocular.
Quality - Numerous things affect quality. Generally speaking, the more expensive an optic, the higher the quality of features that device will have. Things to look for in high quality optics: Lens Coatings, High Exit pupil size, Magnification, Nitrogen purged, Waterproof, Shock Proofing, and most of all... they work well. Take a look through many different brands and types of optics before you buy one. You should be able to tell which optic is right for you by doing a simple "test drive."
Politics
509er - Person who lives in Eastern Washington
Wet sider - Person who lives in Western Washington
Stick flinger - Bowhunter
Nimrod - Muzzleloader
5 - O - Game Warden