jump verb In hunting: to cause (an animal) to start; to flush, start, or attack (game).
1937 Hall Coll. Cades Cove TN Them dogs was good ones to jump bear. (Dave Sparks) 1939 Hall Coll. Proctor NC The dogs, they just stove off the road into a little laurel patch, and there they jumped another big one. (Dan Cable) ibid. Catalocchee NC They jumped the bear and the bear come to the stands. I give him two good shots. (Will Palmer) 1966 DAREÂ = when a hunter or a dog finds a game animal and makes it start running (Cherokee NC). 1972 Hall Sayings 92 A dog jumped a bear, and the bear went right over Uncle Proctor. Uncle Dan said, “Uncle Proctor would never be any whiter when he was laid out than he was then.”
~Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English
2014 Brasstown, NC As I was crossing the creek I jumped two deer out of the laurel thicket on the other side.
Using the word jump in the manner it was used in the Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English is still alive and well in my neck of the woods today.
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Tipper
Jumped me a few Coveys of quail in my time also,, Nice photo,, had me one of those trucks before mine had a 400 small block and she was Black, had to be sure and turn the engine off at the pump or I’d never filler up…
I had a half Doberman and half Black Lab one time. When he was just a pup he would jump up and put his paws on my shoulders and try to lick me in the face. I am 6’1′ or was at the time. Lovingist dog I ever saw. I had to keep him tied so he didn’t jump up and knock people down. Well, one day he broke the chain and I got a call from the old woman who lived next door wanting to know if that was my dog laying in her yard. She knew my dog and she knew why he was laying there. I went down to her house and dragged him back home and buried him but not before I checked him over and found the bullet holes. I never spoke to that “lady” again. I made a vow that if I ever saw her laying out in the yard, I would call her daughter and say “Is that your mother laying out there in the yard?”
Just one more thing I meant to mention this morning…Cindy jogged my memory…
Yes, that Deer Hunter is quite a purty handsome fellow! Tipper a good man is hard to find but I think you found yourself one!
Thanks again for your wonderful, interesting blog this week!
Tipper,
I promise I am not going to comment all day today…
But then, Jim mentioned “hide” and parts of the world “start”!
This got me to thinking, whoops, mistake!
When you know who in Washington, had his military fellers hunt down ‘Saddam’ over in the sandy camel country, do you remember some newspaper articles relating the capture by stating they (the military) “Flushed him out of his “hidey-hole”?
Just pondering….
Thanks Tipper,
and Jim…I love your comments on hunting and ‘sich’!
And don’t forget jumping the gun!
I have used and heard “jump” used in this situation all my life here in East Texas. I would love to read Passion of the Wild. Put my name in the hat.
The words jump, start and flush are used for the more refined, sporty style of hunting. None seems to apply to mine. Is there an exciting word to describe when you get down on your hands and knees to bait a rabbit gum? Or carry a shovel and a pair of heavy gloves on the trail of the elusive whistle pig. Wait is the applicable word for squirrel hunting. Treeing applies to coons and possums but that comes at the other end of the hunt.
I remember once when we was riding home on the school bus and suddenly it came to a grinding halt and ’bout throwed everbody in the floor. The driver put it in neutral, pulled back the emergency brake, grabbed his coat and piled out the door all in one motion. He ran across in front of the bus, up over the road bank and disappeared into the woods. Pretty soon he came back carrying his coat in a ball in front of him. “What you got there?” “Its a possum. I got him tied up in there. You better not mess with him. He’ll eat you alive!” Now that is a more typical example of a Southern Appalachian hunter.
That’s the same bus driver that stopped at a church one time, unloaded all the kids and took us all inside for a funeral. That was his kinfolk in that casket and he wasn’t about to let no bus schedule keep him from attending his funeral.
In all of my years of hunting the quarry usually had to jump, flush, start or do something for me to see or hear them. Less than one percent were spotted in their nest, bed or hiding spot.
After dad bought a scope for his 22 I could use it to spot a squirrel lying on a limb before it moved.
Also heard it used for a person attacked by others by ambush type situation. As in “He was jumped by that mean bunch & ended up in the hospital.”
I really am enjoying this series of blogs on hunting and folks comments and stories, too!
A young raccoon on my front patio didn’t ‘jump’ when I was about to take my dog out this morning–he was too interested in the sunflower seed left by the birds from the day before. He did finally decide it was smarter to leave when he saw the dog tho.’
We jump on brush piles to “Jump” rabbits all the time but my most humorous happening was several years ago during bow season for deer. I had my stand in a tree on the upper side of a Laurel Hell with a game trail through it. I had to crawl to get through the Hell to get to my stand, as I was crawling through the thicket at 5:00am my cap knocked a Grouse off a limb, anyone who has heard a Grouse bust can visualize the grouse hitting my head with it’s wings, me knowing the devil had me,I hit the ground throwing my light one way and my bow the other. It took me about five minutes for my heart to return to normal after I realized a Ruffed Grouse wasn’t the devil but it sure scared the h*&& outa me. If someone had video taped this we would be $100,000.00 richer.
“jump” used in this way is a new one to me. That’s the beginning of all the new things I will learn today. Thanks.
Our neighbor’s grandsons are from Nebraska. All of them are big hunters. When they visit a lot of times my Daddy-in-law & husband take them Coon hunting or fishing. They get tickled at the way we use words & my husband devils them at the way they use words. With deer a 6 point is a 3 by 3 to them. They had no clue what my husband was talking about when he referred to a doe as an ole “nanny”. 🙂
Tipper,
Some of my fondest memories
are Rabbit Hunting in Emmits
Meadow It joined our property
and we kicked many a rabbit out
along the creekbanks. Most of the
time there was lots of snow and we were poor, didn’t have any gloves so we put socks on for gloves. I had a modified J.C. Higgins 12 gague shotgun. You could put a dime through the barrell, no problem and when you jumped a rabbit, just shoot the way he went. With the help of our 4 fiests, my brother and I brought home many for dinner.
…Ken .
Tipper I am beyond thrilled to have won the book! I love Jim’s newsletter and have been a subscriber for some time. What a great start to the day. Love, love your blog. Paula
My hunters never talk about jumping a deer, but they jump rabbits and flush grouse.
That’s a wonderful picture of the Deer Hunter, his bow, and his truck. He loved that truck and loved running the mountains in it. He also loved jumping the deer, and has become quite good at it over the years.
Living close to the earth is not the experience of most folks/boys these days. it is an education all it’s own and teaches a boy self reliance and survival skills that are not learned anywhere else.
I look at that picture of my son and I am so proud and pleased at the fine man he has grown to be!
That use of ‘jump’ is new to me. I remember hearing a hunter friend use the word ‘flush’ when in the woods to get the critters moving around. Interesting new word use for me!
Tipper–It’s interesting that in many, perhaps most, parts of the English-speaking world the word “start” is used instead of “jump” to describe rousting a four-legged critter from its resting spot. Incidentally, other parts of the world call that resting spot a “hide” whereas mountain folks call it a “bed.”
I’ve read a great deal of material on sport in the British Isles and former British Empire and they always seem to use start and hide.
Of course there’s a combination of the two descriptions of getting an animal up from its day-time resting spot–that’s when you “jump start” a car.
Linguistic variants of this sort always intrigue me. I reckon that suggests, and no doubt rightly so, that I’m a bit quare.
Congratulations to Paula, and I hope she enjoys the book. If she wants to contact me through my website, I’ll be glad to note a few recipes which we think are particularly good.
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
What must we do when insomnia awakens us much too early? We simply chase down Tipper’s blog to be assured of an uplifting start for the day. Coffee and The Blind Pig is good for what ails you.
Passion of the Wild sounds like a really good read. I think I may just leave that jumpin’ them bears to the younger folks. This expression brings back wonderful memories of some of the men in our family smelling of cold outdoors, and they would come in telling tall tales of all the game they missed.
One particularly funny family story occurred when one of our young Yankee cousins visited to go deer hunting. Young Cuz wandered off to see if he could jump a deer on his own. Apparently (as the story goes) he came running back to camp with gun in hand and excitedly asked, “Do cows bite?”
Tipper,
My heart about failed when walking the first time on our newly acquired property. I was alone, checking out some violets I saw on a low bank in the edge of the woods above the house. My thoughts were on copperheads, snakes not birds.
A grouse flew up right in front of me, maybe two feet, in front of me. They aren’t very quiet when they are suddenly flushed!
I “flushed” the grouse but he “jumped” me for I “jumped up and back” screaming bloody murder! When I composed, went to the spot, to check for a nest she might have had…I laughed all the way back to the house, thinking which was more scared me or that beautiful bird.
Congratulations to Paula Rhodarmer for winning the book!
Thanks Tipper,
PS…Daddy always used the term, “Let’s go jump some rabbits” routinely!