Yes, it is a totally different song. It is frequently done in this area. It is done in more or less talking blues style, so I will not attempt to put it in verses, just narrative.

Now Elmer Jones woke at dawn,
Put his huntin' britches on,
Looked up at the shotgun on the wall.
He decided then and there
To bag himself a hunk of bear
And hang that old bear's hide upon the wall.

Now he ate his breakfast, slopped the hogs,
Kissed his wife, called the dogs,
Picked up his gun and started on his quest.
He crossed the crick and hit the trees,
Threw back his head and sniffed the breeze,
Let out a yell and pounded on his chest.

Now he hunted all the morning through,
But not a bear came into view,
And Elmer's thoughts were on the kitchen range,
Cause he was sick as he could be
Of lamb and chicken fricassee
And he needed a mess of bear meat for a change.

Bear stew! (Laugh)

Now Elmer's mind was in a fog,
And he paused and sat down on a log
To get his faculties back in a groove.
He heard a noise and standing there
Before him was a grizzly bear.
He decided it was time he made his move.

So Elmer's shoulders sprouted wings,
His feet developed inner springs.
To linger longer, he was disinclined.
He ran so fast through muck and mire,
His ankles set his socks on fire,
And still the bear kept comin' on behind.

Yeah!

Now a deer with antlers eight feet wide,
Got in the way of Elmer's stride,
Both of them were heading for the brush.
And Elmer said, "Now listen, son,
If that's as fast as you can run,
Just move it over, this boy's in a rush!"

Now the bear was gainin' inch by inch,
And soon he reached out for the clinch.
Elmer saw the fence around his place.
He ran so fast and jumped so hard
He went sixty feet across the yard
And slammed the kitchen door in the bear's face.

Now the bear was tryin' to get inside
And Elmer sought a place to hide,
And Mrs. Jones began to pull her hair.
She said, "This fuss has gotta stop,
Why don't you just let the matter drop?"
He said, "Honey, go and tell that to the bear!"

She said, "Now listen, you big goon,
How come you think you're Daniel Boone?
Is that the only bear meat you could find?"
He said, "I'm sure that you're aware
That Daniel always kills his bear.
Yeah, but honey, I done brought mine home alive!"

This is transcribed from a recording by Mike Anderson from Central Illinois. He attributes it to Comer "Moon" Mullins of Mountain View, Arkansas. I have heard Moon do it many times, but he makes no claim to authorship. I probably have a personal recording of it somewhere, but I am not even going to make the attempt to try and find his version! Next time I see him, I will ask him what his source was.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 29-Mar-02.