to prepare for a particularly difficult, complex, or large task requiring ample preparation, as in “The whole board of directors is coming to this negotiation Tom, we’d better load for bear”; stems from analogy to the fact that when hunting large game one would stock ammunition of a caliber more powerful than what is generally carried; whether in the actual forest or the metaphorical business context, said loading should occur well in advance of the sighting of one’s prey/corporate nemesis/target muckety-muck; one surmises that a simple task would thus necessitate ‘loading for squirrel’
