Where did the term "benchleg" come from?

[carpsniperg2]

Well my family has been here in the Goldendale area for over 100 years. My grandfather has used the term as long as I have been alive and my dad as well. We get all kinds of mutts. If you look at the families trophies over the years it use to be mainly blacktail body size and horns. With more mule deer genetics coming in as the years past. In the last 10 to 12 years we have seen some whitetail influence as well.

As far as the term bench leg. Some of these crosses get a weird genetic that makes them have a big body and shorter legs. So that is where I believe the term to have come from.

There is also a term not many people use but around here we call them brown neck bulls. Every so often a guy kills a bull around here that is a nice mature animal and all it is, is a 2 or 3 point bull. My understanding is the trides brought in some rocky mtn elk and those genes crossed with the local elk heard have produced some weird genetics as well. Like these bull that are 5-6 years old and just a rag horn.

[runamuk]

BTW - did you know that "runamok" is a Malay word meaning to run wild in a violent frenzy?

That seems fitting!      Are you Austronesian Runamuk?

No but I am slowly becoming inked all over and I am not real well domesticated.  I am viking and British mostly    And yes I actually looked up all the various meanings of the word when I was naming my farm.  I do wish I had a business name I could use benchleg in its a great word.  And I have seen deer that fit the term so never could see what the problem is its much more a descriptive term in my mind.

[JDHasty]

Well my family has been here in the Goldendale area for over 100 years. My grandfather has used the term as long as I have been alive and my dad as well. We get all kinds of mutts. If you look at the families trophies over the years it use to be mainly blacktail body size and horns. With more mule deer genetics coming in as the years past. In the last 10 to 12 years we have seen some whitetail influence as well.

As far as the term bench leg. Some of these crosses get a weird genetic that makes them have a big body and shorter legs. So that is where I believe the term to have come from.

There is also a term not many people use but around here we call them brown neck bulls. Every so often a guy kills a bull around here that is a nice mature animal and all it is, is a 2 or 3 point bull. My understanding is the trides brought in some rocky mtn elk and those genes crossed with the local elk heard have produced some weird genetics as well. Like these bull that are 5-6 years old and just a rag horn.

The term benchleg has been used around the Tacoma area by sportsmen since 1967.  That is when I moved this area and it always meant short heavy bodied and thick legged blacktail/mule deer cross that was taken on the west side up near the Pacific Crest. 

[DaveMonti]

Perhaps a more interesting question is:

What is it about the Benchleg that causes so many WA Hunting members to disparage him relative to a pure breed Mule Deer?

Now I'm going to sit back and watch!

[Curly]

I question why a bench is assumed to have short legs?  I build my workbenches (or reloading bench) with rather tall legs. 

[Kittman]

Not sure if you read it completely but if I am not mistaken I think OP question really stated he only wanted to know where the term "Benchleg" originated.

Perhaps a more interesting question is:

What is it about the Benchleg that causes so many WA Hunting members to disparage him relative to a pure breed Mule Deer?

Now I'm going to sit back and watch!

[Curly]

I do like that Bench Lake theory.  That sounds plausible. 

[JDHasty]

Perhaps a more interesting question is:

What is it about the Benchleg that causes so many WA Hunting members to disparage him relative to a pure breed Mule Deer?

Now I'm going to sit back and watch!

Most all of the times I have seen disparaging comments comments made it was directed at someone who was deliberately trying to pass off a benchleg as a coastal blactail and in those cases the deer was not viewed in a negative light.  Usually the deer was admired as a great example of what it is.   

[DaveMonti]

I'm just having some fun!

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

As I posted in a different thread.
I was told by an older gentleman that the term came about from an old slang term for a cross-breed.
It was a joke explaining how a smaller male could stand on a bench to "complete the act" with a larger female.
  But he had a lot of similar stories...

[carpsniperg2]

Well my family has been here in the Goldendale area for over 100 years. My grandfather has used the term as long as I have been alive and my dad as well. We get all kinds of mutts. If you look at the families trophies over the years it use to be mainly blacktail body size and horns. With more mule deer genetics coming in as the years past. In the last 10 to 12 years we have seen some whitetail influence as well.

As far as the term bench leg. Some of these crosses get a weird genetic that makes them have a big body and shorter legs. So that is where I believe the term to have come from.

There is also a term not many people use but around here we call them brown neck bulls. Every so often a guy kills a bull around here that is a nice mature animal and all it is, is a 2 or 3 point bull. My understanding is the trides brought in some rocky mtn elk and those genes crossed with the local elk heard have produced some weird genetics as well. Like these bull that are 5-6 years old and just a rag horn.

The term benchleg has been used around the Tacoma area by sportsmen since 1967.  That is when I moved this area and it always meant short heavy bodied and thick legged blacktail/mule deer cross that was taken on the west side up near the Pacific Crest.

They must have come to hunt Goldendale My grandpa is 80. He would have been like 40 by the time the Tacoma guys started using it then

[LDennis24]

First time I heard the term I was up by Chambers Lake backpacking into the Goat Rocks and a guy with a few pack horses was camped out there and he seemed like he knew the area like the back of his hand. He had been hunting there for years and invited us over for coffee and we proceeded to tell him we had just jumped 2 big heavy bodied bucks in the dark timber on the ridge and he said they were benchleg's. We gave him a strange look and he said they were crosses that got heavy bodies and resembled a blacktail in color with a mule deer's rack and body structure.

[fishnfur]

I found this map of the range of Benchleg Blacktails on the internet.  I didn't realize they're found all the way west to I-5!  The Seattle area seems to be all hybrids too.

Weird - Cowlitz County doesn't have any benchlegs at all. 

 

[JDHasty]

I found this map of the range of Benchleg Blacktails on the internet.  I didn't realize they're found all the way west to I-5!  The Seattle area seems to be all hybrids too.

Weird - Cowlitz County doesn't have any benchlegs at all. 

 

There is a claim that there was a high-fence operation down in Nisqually back in the day.  When the owner passed away, or for some reason, mule deer were freed and interbred with local blacktails.  Pay attention to this part of what I am saying, I am not sure if this is true, but I heard it from many of the older people who lived around there when I was a kid... so there may be some truth to it.   

[buckcanyonlodge]

I found this map of the range of Benchleg Blacktails on the internet.  I didn't realize they're found all the way west to I-5!  The Seattle area seems to be all hybrids too.

Weird - Cowlitz County doesn't have any benchlegs at all. 

 

Why are they "benchleg" blacktails and not "benchleg" mule deer ??  I'll stick with my " Trans-Species" deer . That map does not include areas where I killed " trans-species" deer years ago.

AND , what do you call a whitetail deer --mule deer cross ?