Me and two friends had an encounter with a black bear as a kid. All I remember of it is two gigantic yellow eyes. I wasn’t hurt just scared &*$%#&-less. As my mom described it we were all asses and elbows when we got back to camp.
Native Americans used to run herds of bison over cliffs. I wonder if, when humans are finally extinct, what species will take their place. Could it be bears? Would they pose their cubs on human-skin rugs?
Reminds me of another classic bear drawing. Showed two bears sitting around an igloo. One bear says to the other; I love these, crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.
At our mountainous radar site back in the ’50’s, bears were everywhere, and would tear apart anything they thought food was within. Some damfool left a box of steaks outside to thaw and a bear was busy at it. Said damfool thought it smart to run up behind said bear and whack its behind.He found that bears can run faster than humans and that crash-bar doors open outward only when they feel like it. Said fool slept on his stomach for quite a while after that.
No freezers, sun. The muscle was dried into jerky, the hides into brain-tanned buckskin, sinew into thread, bowstrings, and glue, the bones and horns into tools. Jerky could be pounded into almost a powder, mixed its weight (not volume) of fat, with berries added, and you have pemmican, which provides calories and vitamins to carry through the winter without deficiency diseases. Kept dry in stomach or intestine bags, jerky and pemmican can last a year or more without refrigeration.
When I was a kid I wished I was an Indian, and actually made jerky and pemmican. I also learned forest lore and animal tracks and tried to eat edible herbs from the woods. Nice enough for a city kid, but I never would have survived that way..In line with your mention of the sharpshooters that slaughtered the herds, there is extended portrayal of that era in the Michener novel, CENTENNIAL. The bison tongues were often the only thing taken from a carcass, the rest left to decay, useless, while tribes on reservations were malnourished. .Interesting, too, that some of the same sharpshooters later went back to scenes of their slaughters to harvest the bones..CENTENNIAL is a great novel, and well worth the time it takes to read. The television mini-series is also greatly worthwhile.
Ida No over 11 years ago
Yay! Bears!
OGeniusOne over 11 years ago
They shouldd put out a caldron with water in it. Always ready soup to be had!!!
JHalliwell over 11 years ago
clever.
Linux0s over 11 years ago
Once again man feeding the bears disrupts the natural process.
littleannoyingdog over 11 years ago
@JohnnyDiegeo good one I live in MA
tripwire45 over 11 years ago
Glad I never took up skiing.
Rainfoot over 11 years ago
Me and two friends had an encounter with a black bear as a kid. All I remember of it is two gigantic yellow eyes. I wasn’t hurt just scared &*$%#&-less. As my mom described it we were all asses and elbows when we got back to camp.
roctor over 11 years ago
Do bears eat ski bunnies?
jreckard over 11 years ago
Not the average bear.
emptc12 over 11 years ago
Native Americans used to run herds of bison over cliffs. I wonder if, when humans are finally extinct, what species will take their place. Could it be bears? Would they pose their cubs on human-skin rugs?
rugeirn over 11 years ago
It seems to me there are businesses that operate on exactly this model.
Lyons Group, Inc. over 11 years ago
OK, that was a dark one there!
rmacprivate over 11 years ago
Reminds me of another classic bear drawing. Showed two bears sitting around an igloo. One bear says to the other; I love these, crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.
Rickapolis over 11 years ago
This remind me of a Farside cartoon. And it would almost certainly work.
freewaydog over 11 years ago
Actually in real life, bears do not eat ppl unless provoked. They don’t go around hunting for them,…ppl hunt for bears to eat, tho!
Varnes over 11 years ago
roctor, no, but I do.. I love Wiley’s bears…so cute!
Can't Sleep over 11 years ago
And if they’re into home renovation, they can panel the cave with those skis.
Raygun over 11 years ago
Those are gonna be two FAT bears!
dabugger over 11 years ago
Cute Wiley; now what is Danae and company doing?
Packratjohn Premium Member over 11 years ago
Give a bear a skier, you feed him for a day.Set up a trick ski slope, and you feed him for the whole season.
Five boys over 11 years ago
Sometimes the comments are better than the comic!
DrJKnows over 11 years ago
Darn! This isn’t going to work for roadrunners :-(
unca jim over 11 years ago
At our mountainous radar site back in the ’50’s, bears were everywhere, and would tear apart anything they thought food was within. Some damfool left a box of steaks outside to thaw and a bear was busy at it. Said damfool thought it smart to run up behind said bear and whack its behind.He found that bears can run faster than humans and that crash-bar doors open outward only when they feel like it. Said fool slept on his stomach for quite a while after that.
Buggerlugs over 11 years ago
Doesn’t the second amendment say we have the right to arm bears?
klunker rider over 11 years ago
LOLOLOLOLOL
hippogriff over 11 years ago
No freezers, sun. The muscle was dried into jerky, the hides into brain-tanned buckskin, sinew into thread, bowstrings, and glue, the bones and horns into tools. Jerky could be pounded into almost a powder, mixed its weight (not volume) of fat, with berries added, and you have pemmican, which provides calories and vitamins to carry through the winter without deficiency diseases. Kept dry in stomach or intestine bags, jerky and pemmican can last a year or more without refrigeration.
emptc12 over 11 years ago
When I was a kid I wished I was an Indian, and actually made jerky and pemmican. I also learned forest lore and animal tracks and tried to eat edible herbs from the woods. Nice enough for a city kid, but I never would have survived that way..In line with your mention of the sharpshooters that slaughtered the herds, there is extended portrayal of that era in the Michener novel, CENTENNIAL. The bison tongues were often the only thing taken from a carcass, the rest left to decay, useless, while tribes on reservations were malnourished. .Interesting, too, that some of the same sharpshooters later went back to scenes of their slaughters to harvest the bones..CENTENNIAL is a great novel, and well worth the time it takes to read. The television mini-series is also greatly worthwhile.
jonelphick about 1 year ago
If I HAD KNOWN it’d be this easy…