Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Sick of being called "Cracker"

As Dan alluded to, here in Florida, the term was given to the “cow hunters” that used a whip to round up cattle in the swamps and on the plains. Florida was a cattle producer long before the west was.

I like the cattle whipcracker explanation better.
I think the negro,s got the term from watching the Howdy doody show
Clarabelle the clown on cattle drives whipping the schit outta unruly cows that didnt wanna work and schitt.


And that explanation is also the one to agree with cause mannlicher has more post than both of you combined and been here longer than slumlord and fester combined.

Cracker:
Clown on a dumb tv show that used ta whip da chyt outta cows
( specially the black ones)

No, it's because people don't read posts put down before they spout off. Even 2,3 previous posts back. Or they're just stupid.

Honky!

...i don't know wtf cracker means anyway. sounds kinda nice. now ass cracker would not set well with me.

Early use began in England circa 1700's. Later on in the Land of the Free it was an attribution used to characterize cattle drovers who used bullwhips.

It's a compliment of sorts, though most fail to grasp the origins.

whip cracker. lose the whip...

Ok-

Question for all you history buffs-

Where were the first actual "Cattle Drives " conducted in the U.S.?

That is - driving large herds of Cattle from pastures to market?

Florida's old-time cowboys had a unique way of herding cattle. They used 10- to 12-foot-long whips made of braided leather. Snapping these whips in the air made a loud "crack." That sound brought stray cattle back into line fast and earned cowboys the nickname of "crackers." Many rode rugged, rather small horses known as "cracker ponies."

Cracker Cowboys of Florida
By Frederic Remington


One can thresh the straw of history until he is well worn out, and also is running some risk of wearing others out who may have to listen. So I will waive the telling of who the first cowboy was, even if I knew; but the last one who has come under my observation lives down in Florida, and the way it happened was this:

I was sitting in a “sto’ do’” (store door) as the “Crackers” say, waiting for the clerk to load some “number eights” (lumber), when my friend said, “Look at the cowboys!” This immediately caught my interest. With me cowboys are what gems and porcelains are to some others.