crotch horn

crotch horn n Also crutch horn chiefly NEast

A deer or moose antler with two prongs; hence n crotch-horn a deer or moose with such antlers, nouns crotch, crotch(-horn) buck, crotched buck a deer with such antlers.

1881 Forest & Stream 17.348 MI, [We] succeeded in getting three [deer] the last day, two does and a buck. One of the does was a crotch horn and weighed about 100 pounds. 1913 Field & Stream 17.1067 ME, A little further along we came on our game [=a moose], only to find that he was what Andy called a “crotch horn.” 1924 Shoemaker More Allegheny 520 PA, He [=a moose] was a giant brute, very old, which accounted for the fact that his antlers were small and of the crutch-horn order. 1942 Middletown Times Herald (NY) 30 Jan 8/6, The other [=an amendment] describes deer which may be taken during open season as male deer bearing crotch horns instead of wild deer having horns not less than three inches in length. 1963 Daily Rec. (Stroudsburg PA) 3 Dec 1/8, Lewis Hirsch of Effort killed a crotched buck yesterday at 9:45 a.m. while hunting on Effort Mountain. . . Joseph Papson, East Stroudsburg barber, killed a crotch buck at Snow Hill. 1968 DARE FW Addit NY 98 , Crotch-horn: a buck with antlers forked only once, making a total of four points. [FW: Everywhere I have been in the South, this is a forkhorn or four-point .] 1976 Kennebec Jrl. (Augusta ME) 1 Jan 9/3, I found a crotch-horn buck in October that a pair of coyotes (or wolves) had killed. 1984 Post–Std. (Syracuse NY) 1 Sept sec B 2/3, [Caption:] The young ‘crotch horn’ buck was grazing just long enough to be photographed. 2005 in 2015 DARE File—Internet nNY, I put my scope on it and I’ll be darned, a small crotch buck or maybe a 5 pointer. 2011 Ibid ME, Sorry Bob! A Crotch . . short for crotch horn buck, is a 4 point. . . Some refer to them as fork horns. You have me curious now . . has anyone outside of Maine heard of a 4 point called a crotch horn? I have been calling them that all my life. Ibid PA, I have hunted in PA since 1972. . . Prior to A[ntler] R[estrictions] we use to see a lot of deer. . . Harvesting a spike or a crotch buck the norm with a lot of hunters. a 6 point buck was indeed a trophy. 2012 in 2015 DARE File—Internet NY, I grew up in The very north east corner in NY and we call a 4 pointer that doesnt have brow tines a crotch horn. It gets the term b[e]c[ause] it looks like a crotch in a tree. . . [Response from Syracuse NY:] [C]rotchhorn is definitley a NY thing.