Hunting Terms

Jerry Davis

Regardless of who you are, whether you hunt or not, you're going to hear a lot of talk about deer, deer hunting and deer hunters during the next 10 days.

Most gun-deer hunters know and speak English as well as anyone, but during this season peculiar terms few dictionaries can define flow from hunters' wind-chapped lips.

Hunters call this talkin' smart. To some people, however, it's just a bunch of gibberish.

The more hunters congregate, after a day in a woods, the more foreign their language becomes to folks who are not partaking in this grand November tradition.

"I ain't seen a horn all day, only baldies, maybe a nubbin or two, but certainly no shooters," one tired hunter might say to another, as they prop their elbows on a restaurant counter to support their tired torsos.

Translation to anyone not clad in blaze orange garb: I haven't seen a deer with antlers, which are head ornaments on male deer or bucks. Antlerless deer, often called does or fawns, are sometimes called baldies, suggesting they have no antlers; their heads are bare. Very young bucks start to grow antlers that are nearly invisible during hunting season. These young bucks, or their antlers, are called nubbins. Shooters are real trophy bucks, with huge antlers, or at least antlers large enough most trophy hunters might consider shooting them.

"I was up in my stand when this buck bolted past. I know he'd make book, but all I have is a mental image of me draggin' him out."

Translation: Deer hunters often hunt from elevated stands they place in trees. Some hunters build small enclosures and sit inside these stands. Other hunters simply stand near a tree, and they call this area their stand. The purpose here is to wait for a deer to walk past. When deer get frightened, they leave an area quickly, or bolt. In fact, some deer have been given the nickname, Bolt, because they never stay in an area long enough for a hunter to get a clear shot.

Extremely large antlers are measured and scored, based on an elaborate system hunters have established. There are minimum scores bucks' antlers must have before these deer's antlers, also called racks, are recognized by one of several record-keeping books. After a deer is killed, a hunter will field dress the animal by removing the body organs and then drag the carcass to the closest road, where the deer can be loaded onto a vehicle.

"Did you see that deer cop? I know they had eyes in the ski, too. I suppose they'll have the deke out tonight."

Wisconsin's conservation wardens, called deer cops by some hunters, work overtime checking hunters and help keep woods and fields safer for all who recreate in November. Some wardens are pilots and fly over areas to observe hunter densities and possible unsafe hunting situations.

If citizens complain that poachers are shooting deer at night, or from a road, wardens may place a decoy deer along a roadway and then wait to see if a poacher takes an illegal shot at the decoy. If the poacher does shoot at the decoy, a citation is issued by the warden.

Non-hunters can join these conversations, too, and often do. Don't be timid. Make up your own jargon.

"I don't know why you guys and gals play hide and seek deep in a woods. I saw a dozen deer crossing road signs between Mauston and Baraboo. Each sign had a good shooter pictured. The driver in front of me smacked a baldy, but Bucky was timid and stayed off the highway. I don't know why Bucky sends his ladies out to fight with the SUVs. Bucky should be called the weaker sex, not Donna the doe."