Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. one who hunts for food rather than pleasure.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: pot hunter one who hunts more for the sake of the prey, than the sport.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1851		R.S. Surtees Young Tom Hall (1926) 231: Lord Heartycheer [...] had always kept that ‘pompous, pot-hunting humbug’ — as he profanely called Major Guineafowle — at a distance.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 69: pot-hunter A poor person who steals food only to prevent himself from starving.
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 53: The pot-hunters out West kill too many of them [i.e. wild turkeys], and at the wrong seasons.
1879		Scribner’s Monthly Aug. 506: With no other let or hindrance than those which the gory pot-hunters compel [F&H].
1884		Daily News 9 Feb. 5/3: Common birds are better off in England than abroad where they are shot by way of sport, and potted by pot-hunters [F&H].
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘Innocents of Broadway’ in Gentle Grafter (1915) 113: Me and Andy never cared much to do business in New York. It was too much like pothunting.

2. in punning use of sense 1, one who pursues medals and/or prizes; thus pot-hunting n., such a pursuit.

1873		Sl. Dict. 259: Pot-hunter [...] a man who gives his time up to rowing or punting, or any sort of match in order to win the ‘pewters’ which are given as prizes. ? University.
1877		Sporting Gaz. (London) 5 May 413/2: [I]t is a melancholy thing to see a young fellow with [...] his head full of handicaps and pot-hunting races [...] and utterly unfit for work at school.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 14/2: [F]rom which it will be observed that the ‘pot-hunter’ has not entirely died out from the ranks of our amateur scullers.
1888		‘’Arry on Competitive Examination’ in Punch 1 Dec. 253/2: ‘Life’s jest a long scramble,’ sez Harrison, ‘of pot-hunting.’.
1891		National Observer 14 Feb. 332: But does Mr. Everard seriously pretend... he was contemplating the rivalry of the two in a gigantic pot-hunting ‘competeetion’? [F&H].
1897		Pall Mall Gaz. 18 Aug. 9/2: According to these gentlemen, it is the crime of being a successful golfer that makes a man a pot-hunter .
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 109: POT HUNTING: sham sports [...] who [...] will not shoot for pure sport, but always enter where there is a valuable cup or trophy.
1923		Western Times 21 Dec. 8/4: Their headmaster had said there was a certain type of person who indulged in ‘pot-hunting;’ he was known as a ‘pot-hunter’. He went about hunting for [prizes] for himself.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 235: ’E were a bastard, ’e were. Military cross an’ bar; regular pot-’unter.
1939		Grimsby Dly Teleg. 28 Mar. 7/2: Pots and medals are [...] reminders of one’s prowess, but don’t let these meetings develop into pot-hunting affairs.

3. an unwelcome guest who carefully arrives just in time for dinner.

1873

Sl. Dict.