"Fair Game"
9x12 Oil on Panel
SOLD

     We are in northern Idaho on the Washington border. The year is 1919. There is snow on the ground.
     A mountain lion has killed a cow moose and, in its customary way, has covered it with dead leaves to hide and return to feed later. A passing brown bear (grizzly) picks up the scent of the kill and decides to feed on it. As a bear will normally do, it will feed for a while, then move away to rest, perhaps only two hundred yards away. It will remain hidden, but ever protective of its prize.
     Now enter two hunters, who accidentally discover the kill. Apprehensively they look round, for they know there might be a bear in the area. Then, running from zero to thirty miles an hour, faster than any sports car, the 900 lb bear charges from its cover and hurls itself towards the hunters. One of them manages to get a shot off, but not before it injured his colleague. The momentum of the charging beast bowls him over, and then he starts to maul. A second shot kills the bear.
     Badly cut, the injured hunter is in shock, so his partner lights a fire and searches his backpack for a first aid kit. His problem is how will he get his friend back to camp, as well as the bear, before nightfall. Their troubles are not over however, for unbeknownst to the two hunters, the mountain lion has returned and is watching the scene from the edge of the forest. Fair game.