That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for February 01, 2024

My original (with a correction) from 2018:

“Just as he was about to spear the moose, the animal turned around and punctured the canoe with his antlers.”

/// Ketchi hunts from his birch bark canoe.

Two braves paddle to swiftly subdue

a moose swimming so near

it’s in reach of his spear.

Then a hoof kicks the boat and breaks through.

And how are you planning to get that moose carcass into the boat?

Did you think about that?

My Original comment (tRump was president at the time) : Analogy of the American/Canadian relationship.

With all of the time it takes to launch a canoe, why didn’t they just hunt the moose before it went into the water?

When you’re planning to skewer a moose/

You’d best have a good excuse:/

These Indians do-/

They are in the canoe/

Because they gotta feed the papoose !

Ooooh, I’m pretty sure this is racist, or something.

How far-right of you, literally Hotler.

#cancelstevemelcher

I got it, I got it, I got it, noooooo, I don’t.

It all came to him in a dream:

Peter T. Hokum owned a Catskills resort that needed a gimmick lest his establishment go bankrupt. He had the wild idea to base an elaborate stage act upon the famous painting by George de Forest Brush, “The Moose Chase.” It would use special effects in the manner Disney used in its live-action re-enactments such as “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

In his dream, former Chippendale dancers (slightly out-of-shape and therefore unemployed) piloted a canoe upon a faux lake made realistic with creative use of lighting. They pursued a pantomime moose and brought it to bay, but without bloodshed (mindful of possible ASPCA concerns).

The scenario conception got vague from this point, but Hokum envisioned a classy stage production based upon this and other genre paintings of similar style. He would integrate works by Hawthorne, Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott, Washington Irving, and other regional writers into such paintings. His establishment would expand, become famous … eventually to be known as “The American Bayreuth.”

…and so on. If only he could a loan from the stodgy, unimaginative owner of his local bank — who stared at him speechless — then got rather rude …

The other Captain Ahab…..

Bullwinkle could sure use Rocky’s help at this moment. Quickly, fly in and lift the hunter’s loincloth! Perfect distraction!

Moose Meat…..It’s not just for breakfast anymore.

Little Feather was a real pain to deal with after he read Moby Dick

If he thinks it’ll be easy to harvest that huge animal, he’s making a big moosetake.

is it “just-as-about-to” or “as-just-about-to” ??

A guy named “Brush” became a painter? Who’d have thought…

That guy better not miss! Moose are notoriously bad-tempered and extremely aggressive when annoyed.

I’ve seen them attack trucks and cars in Alaska. Moby Moose will take that canoe on a Nantucket sleigh ride.

that seems like an extraordinarily bad idea

The last of the great sea-mooses, hunted into extinction.

Sore loser in the moose vs. canoe race.

Boris and Natasha eventually faced up to their own ineptitude, and took out a contract instead.

Bullwinkle’s attempt to enter the realm of action movies after his split with Rocky fails miserably

They thought they were doing it right, Spear the Moose and avoid a long fight, It would be a quick end, But the Moose had a friend, It was Rocky who was just out of sight.

This is what dads get up to at those “wilderness retreats”.

You know, this would be easier if the saychem wouldn’t insist on water skiing during these hunts!

Quite a “Spear-i-ted” attack.

This moose will provide 30 loincloths for the rest of my tribe!

The Moose Chase: 

Paste (including the quote marks) 

"Category:1888 oil on canvas paintings in the United States" Wikimedia 

(syntax supported by the Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, and Yandex search engines) in the browser address bar (or search for it using one of those search engines) and choose the first Category: found, and once there find the text string Moose, and click its link for info and links that point to more info about this large painting. 

Again, a larger strip image is shown by merely clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s THROWBACK THURSDAY: MASTERPIECE #1979: 6/21/18 (January 31, 2024) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment. I have added a comment there pointing to info about this artist I used to point to here. So far, 2 works by him have been used here (3 times total, including this Throwback Thursday repeat), the June 21, 2018, strip being its first use. The July 24, 2019, strip has the prior by him.

His crew, each one queasy at the sight of blood, always left it to him to do the dirty work.

Unlucky in love, this was the only way he would ever get close to a moose knuckle.

“The Moose Chase,” 1888

Chapter 27 of The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper describes Hawkeye trying to get a deer that way.