[Purrybonker]

A couple of hunters charter a bush pilot to drop them at a frozen lake for a week long hunt. The pilot accepts the charter on condition that the hunters will be limited to bringing back their gear plus no more than two moose given the payload limitations of his single otter aircraft. All agree.

Upon his return to pick up the hunters a week later, the pilot finds them in possession of two moose plus two bear, exceeding the limitation previously agreed to. The hunters explain to the pilot that the previous season they had concluded their hunt with the same number of animals and the same amount of gear and that the pilot had used the same type of aircraft.

Although feeling somewhat uncertain the pilot was challenged by the accomplishments of his peer the previous season. After extensive debate and cajoling by the hunters, the pilot agreed to carry the entire load of animals, humans and gear.

Everything packed tightly in the compact fuselage of the otter, the pilot pointed the plane into a brisk headwind blowing across the small lake. The skis rattled against the ice as the plane slowly gained speed and began to close ground on a barrier of forty foot tall spruce trees that marked the end of the lake. The occupants of the plane sat in hushed silence as the trees got closer and closer while the craft continued to resist the pilot’s straining against the yoke.

Suddenly the pilot yelled out that he needed to abort the takeoff – their cargo was too heavy for such a short runway. The hunters immediately reassured the pilot that the last season they had carried the same number of animals and the same amount of equipment and that the pilot had used the same type of aircraft on the same icy lake. Once again, not wanting to be outdone by a peer, the pilot held the throttle open.

Just as the group thought that they would surely smash into the row of spruce, the little otter lifted it’s nose into a slow but cautious climb. The passengers and pilot gave a sigh of relief as they watched the towering spruce slide slowly under the fuselage of the plane.

Suddenly the craft jolted, accompanied by the sound of tearing metal. The plane had caught a ski on a lone spruce towering a few feet above the rest. The impact tore the undercarriage from the otter and sent it crashing through the forest canopy. It came to rest on the forest floor in a jumbled heap of twisted metal, hunting gear and human and animal bodies.

The pilot pushed away the bear carcass that had come to rest on his torso and looked up at one the hunters – hanging upside down from his harness in a tree limb over his head. “I thought you said that last season you had carried the same number of animals and the same amount of equipment and that the pilot had used the same type of aircraft on the same icy lake! Now I suppose your going to tell me that we ended up in the same spot as you did last year, right?”

“heck no” muttered the hunter “pat yourself on the back there boy…

why, you made it a good fifty feet further than the pilot did last year!”