Hunting & Gear

• Action: In firearm terms it means the operation of the mechanisms that load, fire, and unload a weapon.
• Adapt: Biological or instinctive changes to one's environment, whether physical, mental, or equipmental.
• AMO Speed Rating: The Archery Manufacturer's Organization set this standard for evaluating arrow speed. To discover the AMO Speed a bow is set at 60 pounds, with a 30-inch draw and shooting arrows that weigh 540 grains. For today's compounds, speeds over 240fps are considered fast while anything under 220fps are relatively slow.
• Ammunition (Ammo): Projectiles, such as bullets and shot, together with their fuses and primers, that can be fired from guns or otherwise propelled.
• Anchor: (in Bow hunting), The point to which you draw and hold your bow string prior to releasing. This is generally a set point that is repeated with each shot for accuracy and repetition.
• Antler: An antler is a growth on top of the head formed of bone, they are ornamental structures prized by hunters and are termed by how many points they contain.
• Area of the Fall: The area around which a bird has fallen and where the retriever is expected to hunt and locate the bird. Can also be used to describe the point the hunter believes any game animal has stopped after being shot.
• Armguard: A protective device placed on the archers arm to protect from injury from the bowstring, reduces abrasions on the arm.
• Automatic: A firearm that continues to mechanically or electronically reload and fire a weapon as long as the trigger is depressed and ammunition remains in the firearm.. In many locations automatic weapons are banned in all hunting situations.
• Axle: The axles are the shafts which a compound bow's cams rotate.
• Baffles: Barriers placed on firing ranges to reduce sound and to contain bullets within a designated range area.
• Bawl: An intense sound made by a traumatized or injured deer, used as an alarm to alert other deer of danger. Other game animals also emit warning sounds when startled or injured.
• Beard: A hair-like growth that protrudes from a turkey's chest.
• Bedding Area: A generally trampled area of grass or brush where deer rest and take cover during hot weather or to conceal themselves.
• Blacktail Deer: A Subspecies of the whitetail deer, located in the western most states of North America. This deer has a darker body, black tail, and smaller frame compared to the whitetail deer.
• Blind: A hiding place for hunters and hunting dogs to stay concealed from prey, generally a canvas or fabric structure. A blind can also be constructed from materials found in the field to blend into the current surroundings and to hide scent.
• Blunt: A arrow tip that does not contain a point or sharp blades and is used mainly for small game or for practice.
• Bovid: Animals with hooves and permanent horns. Includes cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, bison, and buffalo.
• Breakline: A line between old timber forests and new growth of small trees and underbrush, utilized by deer for scraping and rubbing areas.
• Broadheads: An arrow tip that is utilized for hunting game such as deer, turkey, or boar and generally contains fixed or expandable blades of at least 1" diameter.
• Browtine: The first fork of the antler on a deer.
• Buck: A buck is a male deer. The male is discernible from the females by the set of antlers atop its head for seven months.
• Buck Rub: An area where a male deer has rubbed his horns leaving behind marks or damage. A buck will also do this to clean the velvet from newly formed antlers. Hunters use this as an indication that mature bucks have visited an area.
• Cackle: One of the various types of calls made by a turkey.
• Calling: Imitating the different sounds deer or other prey make to lure them into shooting range.Calling can be done with or without the help of certain sound making devices either manually or electronically operated.
• Camouflage (Cammo): Coloration that helps the body blend in with the surrounding environments- whether it's a fawn with spots or a hunter's clothing. Many patterns of hunting Cammo exist to blend into different hunting environments.
• Center Shot: Is the point that places the arrow shaft directly in line with the string grooves on compound eccentrics or the center of the limb tips on recurves or longbows.
• Cervidae: Taxonomic family to which deer belong.
• Conditioning: A way of learning from experiences. Bucks become conditioned to be active only at nighttime during hunting season. Many animals become conditioned to avoid predators and define their actions as such.
• Cover: Vegetation, grass, trees, rock formations, or man-made structures to conceal a hunter's position.
• Cut to Length: Is when an arrow is cut to specified length to meet the specifications of the archer, the arrow is measured from bottom of nock to end of arrow shaft.
• Deadfall: Branches and ground litter that serves as concealment when the hunter is on the ground.
• Decoy: A plastic or wooden object that looks identical to the game being hunted, used to lure the game into shooting range. Decoys are used mainly in duck hunting, however many different species of decoys are commercially available.
• Deer Yard: Confined areas where large numbers of deer congregate during the winter months for food, shelter, or warmth.
• Diaphram Caller: A caller made of tape, lead and latex rubber that is inserted into the rook of the hunter's mouth. When air passes over the rubber diaphragm, the hunter can make many of the calls of the hen turkey and the gobbler.
• Diversion: A distraction, of some sort, including but not limited to a bird, a dry shot, poison bird, a person moving, talking, yelling or walking, etc.
• Doe: A doe is a female deer which will not grow antlers.
• Draw Length: The distance at full draw from the nocking point to the back of the grip. The AMO draw length is the distance from the nocking point to a point 1 3/4 inches past the back of the grip.
• Draw Weight: The amount of force in pounds required to draw the bow string from start to locked position.
• Eccentric: The cam or part of the bow that is designed to control the stored energy of the bow.
• Exit Pupil: You can calculate the exit pupil, or the size of the beam of light that leaves the optic, by dividing the diameter of the objective lens by the magnification. A larger exit pupil yields a brighter image.
• Eye Relief : how far you can hold the scope from your eye and still see the whole viewing field, is listed as a range. Hunters are usually satisfied by eye relief of 3 to 4 inches.
• Fall: The spot on the ground or water where the item to be retrieved fell or the season where deer hunting generally begins in many areas of the country.
• Fawn: A fawn is a baby deer. It can be distinguished from adults by a white spotted coat.
• Feather: A 2-5 inch sheathing made of feather-like material (either artificial or natural) that is attached to the shaft of the arrow and is used to cause arrow rotation which increases speed and accuracy.
• Field of View: Measured in feet, field-of-view is the size of an area that can be viewed at 1,000 yards. A larger number means you can view a wider area, while a smaller number means the viewable area will be narrower.
• Fletch: The plastic vane or feather that is at the end of the arrow used to stabilize the arrows flight path.
• Flintlock : A firearm in which a flint fixed in the hammer produces a spark that ignites the charge.
• Glassing: Using binoculars or other sighting device to spot deer or other prey.
• Gobble: The sound a turkey makes and the reason turkeys have gained the nickname of gobbler.
• Grain: The measure of weight usually used when weighing arrows or arrow tips. 7000 grains make a pound. Can also be used to describe the amount of powder contained in a shell cartridge.
• Gun Dog: A dog trained to work with a hunter in tracking and pointing live game and then retrieving the game once it has been shot.
• Habitat: The type of environment in which certain animals survive or live in.
• Hen: Full grown adult female game bird.
• Hinge: This type of gun opens when you push a lever at the back of the receiver after firing to allow for loading and unloading of a weapon, generally on single or double barrel shotguns.
• Home Range: The area a deer lives in throughout its life, containing everything a deer needs to survive- food, concealment, etc. All animals have a home range and this term is used for bear, buffalo, or other game animals.
• Horns: Horns are permanent growths on top of an animal's head that are not shed seasonally.
• Hot Spots : Good places to hunt or places where game is commonly found such as trails, watering holes, or low-lying hiding spots.
• Hunting : The pursuit of game or wild animals.
• Insert: The adapter which is placed into a shaft to make a nock or arrow point fit the shaft. Outserts are the opposite, they fit around the shaft.
• Instinct: Behavior that is naturally ingrained in an animal. Some humans also refer to hunting skills as instinct.
• Kinetic Energy: Kinetic Energy = (arrow weight) / 450,800 x (arrow speed). Kinetic energy measures the level of penetration your arrow.
• Length of Pull: On a firearm, it is the length between the trigger and the butt of the stock. On a bow it is the distance from the resting place of the bow string to full extension.
• Lick: Salt bait used to attract deer.
• Magnification: Magnification tells you how much closer a viewed object will appear compared to the naked eye. This can be a fixed number (7x) or a variable one such as 3.5–10x. Most rifle scopes will feature variable power.
• Molt: Losing feathers and regrowing them at different stages in life. The process of shedding the coat. Molting occurs twice a year-once in the spring and once in the fall.
• Mule Deer: A subspecies of whitetail deer located in the western United States and Mexico.
• Nock: The fork-like end piece on an arrow shaft used to hold the arrow to the bowstring before a shot is made.
• Nocking Point: Location where arrow sits on the bowstring.
• Nocturnal: Means when an animal feeds or is active only during nighttime hours..
• NRA: National Rifle Association.
• Objective Lens Diameter: Also referred to as aperture, objective lens diameter is measured in millimeters. The larger the number, the larger the size of the lens and the greater the amount of light. Most hunting scopes have objective lenses that range from 40mm to 50mm. Magnification and objective lens size are the most prominent features of a hunting optic, and thus are usually included in the product's name.
• Odocileus: The genus of North American deer that includes whitetail, blacktail and mule deer.
• Overdraw: Refers to an extended rest. The rest comes in further to shorten your arrow length which increases speed and accuracy.
• Peep Sight: A sight used on a bow to help align a shot and is similar to the rear sight on a gun.
• Pelt: The coat once it is skinned from the animal and is the reason why animals such as bobcat, wolves, and fox are hunted or trapped. Pelts are used to make clothing, rugs, or decorations.
• Plumage: The collective feathers on birds and sometimes refers to the tail feathers which can be prized by some hunters.
• Poach: The illegal trapping or killing of an animal that is out of season, below legal size or age, in a prohibited area, or an endangered species.
• Portable Stand: A portable stand is a stand that is smaller in size. This is good for a hunter who can easily move or take down the stand within their own discretion. They are popular in states that do not allow permanent stands for hunting on state land.
• Pump-Action: This type of gun fires one shell, then must be "pumped" or manually operated to eject the spent shell and reload another shell to fire. Shells are generally stored inside the gun.
• Putt: A high pitched type of call the turkey emits when confronted with danger.
• Quiver: Holds arrows, the most popular for bowhunting is the bow-quiver which holds arrows on the bow, other options are hip quivers and back quivers.
• Rack: Refers to the set of antlers on deer or similar animals.
• Rattling: The use of two objects, antlers or similar man-made objects, that are hit together to mimic the fighting of two bucks and are used to lure deer into shooting range.
• Recurve: A bow design which features limbs that bend away from the archer at the tips.
• Refuge: A place where animals have plentiful food and supportive environment.
• Rifle Scope: A scope mounted on top of a rifle, acts as a magnifying glass for more accurate long-range shooting. Rifle scopes can also make hunting safer, providing a better view of your target and anything—or anyone—directly around it.
• Rooster: Full grown adult male game bird.
• Rubs: Bucks rub tree branches with their antlers to display dominance and mark their territory. Rubs are used by hunters to locate areas where deer are known to exist.
• Rump Patch: The area on deer around tail, rump and upper legs.
• Rut: Rut is the six month breeding season in which bucks become aggressive with each other to compete for does, they scrape off the velvet and their antlers harden.
• Scouting: Is spending the off season to survey areas of land to track animals and to find locations that may be optimal for the upcoming hunting season. Hunter scout to find new areas to hunt when their old area has not been productive or when they believe bigger animals exist in another area.
• Scrapes: Areas of ground that have been dug up and scented by bucks to indicate a willingness to breed. Used by hunters to locate deer areas.
• Semi-Automatic: This type of gun fires one shell, ejects it's casing by the force of the shot, and chambers the next shell. Semi-automatics require a new trigger pull for each shot.
• Sparring: Is when two bucks lock antlers and fight for dominance of an area or as a display for breeding females. The winner of the sparring match is generally considered the dominant buck,
• Small Game: Small animals such as squirrel, rabbits, fox, or other similarly sized animals that are frequently hunted.
• Spur: A large nail that protrudes through the legs of most male game bird species that is used for fighting and protection.
• Stabilizer: reduces torque and shock on a bow after releasing the arrow and helps to hold a bow steady during a shot for better accuracy.
• Strap on Stand: A portable stand large enough to hold a hunter's weight, strapped to a tree trunk high in the air.
• Strut: Part of the courtship behavior between a male and female turkey, where the male turkey will spread its tail feathers in a show of size and dominance hoping to convince the female to mate.
• Thicket: Dense area of coverage where whitetails like to hide, sometimes characterized by undergrowth or thorny patches of bushes.
• Tom: Male turkey.
• Topographical Maps: Maps that show elevations and depression of the land. They are useful for locating areas that may harbor deer or may indicate water sources or good cover or hunting locations.
• Tripod Stand: A small portable stand that folds out to allow the hunter to position themselves level with their prey.
• Trophy: A mature buck with a large set of antlers or a similar large animal of any prey species that exhibits favorable qualities.
• Velvet: Velvet is the protective covering encasing the growing antler that carries blood and nutrients that allow the antlers to grow and become hard.
• Venison: The meat of a deer.
• Whitetail Deer: The most common deer in North America and the most common hunted species of deer. What most hunters refer to as deer.