NOTE: was going to post this with the YARNS of the BIG WOODS, but found so much more info that it warranted its own post.
What are those strange tracks?” asked the tenderfoot.
Snowshoe Bill, the old guide, chuckled to himself as he started to tell the story of the side-hill gouger.
“The hills are so steep,” he explained, “that animals can hardly run on them. If they tried to go down hill they would roll right off, and if they tried to go straight up, they couldn’t do it without a derrick. So they work around them, kind of spiral-like to get to the top. That’s how the side-hill gouger grew long legs on one side and two short ones on the other. These animals live in big holes that they gouge out, and feed on the rabbits that roll into them.”
You may be lucky enough to catch one, though they only come out in the dark of the moon. Of course they can go around the hill in only one direction. The way to catch one is to meet him face to face and hit him in the head with a club, thus turning him around suddenly, so that his short legs are on the outside. This causes him to roll down the hill at terrific speed, which makes him so dizzy that he never comes to again.” (1922)
