Definition of "heered"

"Putty soon I heered somebody down in the woods a-callin'.

1877, Samuel Woodworth Cozzens, The Young Trail Hunters‎

Old as I am, Miss Majesty, an' used as I am to cowboy excentrikities, I nearly dropped daid when I heered that little hobble-footed, burned-up Montana cow-puncher say there wasn't any game too swell for him, an' gol-lof was just his speed.

1914, Zane Grey, The Light of Western Stars‎