OSKI WOW WOW, WHISKEY WEE WEE

#1151

 

     Morgan Baker, twenty six, drove toward Kensing recently to check on his deer feeder just off the Hefley Loop. As he got out of his pickup he could hear several hogs squealing in the distance. Grabbing his bow he walked slowly through the brush. Two big boars were fighting while thirty or more hogs of all sizes stood watching. The two fighting would weigh about three hundred each. Sometimes a smaller boar would run in and try to fight but would be turned back with a squeal when one of the larger boars cut him. While the hogs were busy Morgan was able to slip within fifteen yards unnoticed but with only two arrows he would have to be careful.

     While the main group of hogs was concentrating on the fight Morgan shot a hundred fifty pounder. The arrow passed all the way through and Morgan retrieved it as the hog made its final run. His second shot was at one of the contestants which quickly ran away with his arrow. By then the other big boar had become aware of Morgan and came at him. Thinking the big boar was only bluffing as they often do, Morgan held his ground until the boar was within five yards. In desperation Morgan threw down his bow and barely got up a bois d’ arc tree in time. The big boar was making a growling noise like most hog hunters have heard.

 

 

 

 

     For a few minutes the entire group of hogs was under and around the tree. Morgan said if he had his bow or a gun up in the tree he could have killed several of them. After the hogs left, Morgan made his way to the pickup, drove home, and got his dogs. Back at the pasture he was able to catch a small hog and a hundred fifty pounder. He was very lucky he got to the tree before the boar caught him.

     In many counties there are Wildlife Management Areas owned by the Parks and Wildlife Department. Most of these have an archery season for deer and you are allowed to shoot a hog if you get a chance. Several times I have bow hunted on the Cooper Wildlife Management Area and ran across hogs. If the wind carries human scent to a big boar he will make the growling noise. You are in his territory and he wants you to leave. With tall weeds and brush in abundance you must slip close to get a shot. Sometimes you wonder about going within shooting range. Sooner or later a big boar will come at a bow hunter and there will be no tree to climb. Three times on private land I have been put up trees by big boars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The wildlife management areas continue to be a sanctuary for hogs which often come out on private land at night to root up nearby pastures. Several hunters are suggesting an additional season on the management areas. Keep the archery season and shotgun season that is annually allowed then after those seasons close allow hunters to go in with dogs to help thin out more of the rooters. Bows, shotguns, and commercial trapping are not thinning the animals out enough. Drawings could be held to determine which hunter and his dogs could go on which days. A limit could be placed on the number of dogs allowed on the hunts. Some of the areas already allow dogs so maybe it is time for the one near Cooper.

     Someone emailed me recently asking about the phrase “baited breath.” Would that be like if you ate worms and birds would fly up to you thinking they could find a meal? Maybe eat some acorns and deer would smell the bait on your breath. Nah, that ain’t it. One of the first recorded uses of the phrase comes from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice in 1596 when he wrote “With bated breath and whispring humblenesse.” Did you notice it is spelled bated? Originally the word was abated which means to slow down or stop. Maybe you have heard of someone watching something dreadful and they “held their breath.” Now, abated has been shortened to bated. So bated breath is like being scared or amazed and you stop breathing for a few seconds. Don’t feel bad if you have been thinking baited instead of bated because baited is reportedly used in one of the Harry Potter books.

     How about another puzzling word? In all my years of coaching and being around football I have always heard the word “oski.” Pronounced os kee. When a pass is intercepted everyone is supposed to holler oski to announce it so they will get to blocking. I haven’t been able to find out why they holler oski but I did find oski was used all the way back to 1911. That’s when the University of California Berkeley cheerleaders started using a yell that went, “Oski wow wow, Whiskey wee wee, Olee muckie eye, Olee Berkeley eye. California wow.” Did the players just have that word in their mind and decide to use it when an interception was made? Is it an Native American word that means “Hey y’all, our team just intercepted a pass so get to blocking?”

     Question for the week: Why do most meteorologists talk at a normal speed then the traffic reporter comes on and talks ninety miles an hour?

     Riddles just in time for Halloween: What do you get when you divide the circumference of a jack o lantern by its diameter? Pumpkin pi. How do ghosts begin their letters? Tomb it may concern. What happened to the guy that couldn’t keep up payments to his exorcist? He was repossessed. How do you know if a ghost is lying? You can see right through him. Why didn’t the skeleton dance with anyone at the Halloween party? He didn’t have any body to dance with. What do ghosts ask each other? Do you believe in people?  etra327@live.com

 

 

________