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Glossary P


Pac Boots
Rubberized, waterproof cold-weather boots with a warm felt liner.

Pack Frame (hunting)
A backpack with a stout external frame, most often without the accompanying cloth bags, used for freighting meat and other objects that can’t be stuffed inside a backpack.

A horse used to pack gear, food, and meat.

Pack Saddle (hunting)
A rigid frame made of wood or metal that is used to load gear, food, and equipment on a packhorse.

Painter (boating)
The Bow Line on a small boat such as a dinghy.

A line of bold cliffs.

Palmations (hunting)
The knobby growths on the antlers of a caribou, moose, or elk that are usually flat and spread out like the palm of a hand. Palmations are a normal feature on the “brow tines” of caribou and moose, and are an unusual feature on deer and elk antlers.

Pan (hunting)
The small indentation under the hammer and frizzen of a flintlock rifle in which fine grains of black powder are placed. This powder catches the spark from the frizzen and conducts a spark into the barrel of the rifle via a small hole.

Loss of voluntary movement (motor function).

Park (hunting)
An open meadow or glade in mountainous terrain. A “park” can be located on a fairly steep slope.

A dynamic, fluid method of travel across rocky or obstacle ridden terrain. This method of travel is used to efficiently overcome any obstacle by adapting movements to the environment. Practiced and perfected by the french military this technique relies on momentum and speed.

Patched Ball (hunting)
A round lead ball that is seated on a lubricated patch of cloth and then rammed down the barrel of a muzzleloader.

Paunch (hunting)
The stomach and intestinal area of an animal. A poor spot to shoot an animal.

Pectoral Fin
Front steering fins on either side of a fish; corresponds with front legs.

A gently sloping surface, usually covered with gravel, the result of erosion.

Pelvic Fin
Lower fin on either side of a fish; corresponds with hind legs.

A body of land that is surrounded by water on three sides. (see more about peninsulas)

The ability of a material to allow the passage of a liquid, such as water through rocks. Permeable materials, such as gravel and sand allow water to move quickly through them, whereas impermeable material, such as clays, don’t allow water to flow freely.


A small, discrete body of water held by some plants.

A platform that goes from the land out into the water. (dock)

canoe-like boat developed in Louisiana for duck hunting in cypress swamps and coastal marshes.

Flat lands that have only small changes in elevation. (see more about plains)


A large, flat area of land that is higher than the surrounding land. (see more about plateaus)

A very flat, dry lake bed of hard, mud-cracked clay.

A person who kills game out of season or shoots more than the legal limit of game.

Pocket Water
Where fast current rushes around boulders and other obstructions, creating pockets of calmer water.

Where land sticks out into a body of water.

Polar Air

Polar Desert
Polar deserts are areas with annual precipitation less than 250 mm and a mean temperature during the warmest month of less than 10° C. Polar deserts on the Earth cover nearly 5 million square kilometers and are mostly bedrock or gravel plains.

Small, light, dry protein particles from trees, grasses, flowers, and weeds that may be spread by the wind. Pollen particles are usually the male sex cells of the plant, and are smaller than the tip of a pin.

Containing waste materials or other unwanted substances.

A small body of water surrounded by land. A pond is smaller than a lake.

A reach or segment of a river or stream with greater depth and slower current.

A hooded water-repelling garment used for a raincoat.


A term used to describe water that is suitable for human consumption.

Powder Horn (hunting)
A horn from a cow that has been hollowed out to hold black powder, used for muzzleloader shooting.

A wide, relatively flat area of land that has grasses and only a few trees. (see more about prairies)

Catches and feeds on other animals.

The process where water vapor condenses in the atmosphere to form water droplets that fall to the Earth as rain, sleet, snow, hail, etc. (National Weather Service)

Something being hunted to be eaten.

Priming (camping)

Prismatic Compass (camping)


A log bridge built over fragile terrain that is wet.

Sub-surface larval stage of aquatic insect development. the third phase of an insect’s life cycle, when wings are beginning to grow.

Put up shade
Erect a screen room or tarp so that you can get out of the hot sun.

Pyrodex® (hunting)
A modern substitute for black powder that generates less smoke and corrosion.


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