Thursday, June 27, 2019

Don't mess with a momma moose

Ever.

5 comments:

Steve Skubinna said...

Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti...

Moose can be very dangerous. I have read that Iditarod mushers fear moose attacks more than anything else on the route. One can wipe out a dog team in a heartbeat, and will if it's angry.

Paco said...

I believe you. Those things can get powerful annoyed in a hurry, and they're not shy about expressing their emotions.

JeffS said...

Once, I pulled over at a lookout point in Yellowstone National Park to admire the view. A glorious vista of the Tetons was there to behold, and behold is what I wanted to do. Then I noticed that everyone in the point was looking DOWN, not UP.

About 200 yards out, this guy actually was trying to touch a bull moose. He was maybe 15 feet away from the moose, and at least had the presence of mind to move in slowly. The moose was in a defensive position, head down, front feet spread apart, eyes on the idiot, and standing very still. Not a good sign at all.

A bull moose is 1200 to 1500 pounds of rompin', stompin', fire breathing muscle. His impressive rack is not needed to deal with a puny, unarmed human. Yet this clown thought Yellowstone is a petting zoo. His elderly mother was right there, next to me, terrified that she was going to see her son die.

I decided that beholding the view at this location was not a good idea, so I drove off. I didn't read about some tourist going to the hospital with multiple broken bones (and tourist-wild animal incidents always made local headlines), so I assume the encounter ended with minimal pain.

The bear had a reason, and could at least outrun mama moose.

RebeccaH said...

We followed a young moose down a Minnesota highway one time. After a half hour or so, it finally veered off into some woods. We were NOT about to try and pass the thing.

Deborah said...

Momma moose chased that bear almost to Montana. The bear was lucky that she is a she; no rack (antlers). It's odd that the bear veered away from the treeline where it could have scrambled up to safety, instead of continuing the marathon.