Yep, a smarter strain here in Michigan than what they have in New Hampshire. Must get that from the people they associate with.Originally Posted by slow mind
I've seen a few moose along the AT, but they never paid much attention to me. Two stories I remember from my 2004 thru hike.
One. A lady was hiking along, not paying much attention, looking down at her feet and ran into one. She jumped to one side of the trail and the moose jumped to the other side and they stared at each other for a minute or two. Then the moose went on it's way.
Two. A guy was trying to get a picture of a moose with his head held a certain way. The moose wasn't being cooperative and so the guy decided to throw a couple rocks at it to get it to move it's head the way he wanted it. The moose didn't particularly like this and so charged the guy and he was able to get up a tree. The moose spent the next four or five hours circulating around the tree waiting for the guy to come down. Lucky for the guy, a couple rangers happened by and rescued him.
I think the moral here is don't mess with them and they won't mess with you. If you happen to have a little accident, they can be forgiving, but they are not too forgiving of having things thrown at them!
As far as how truthful these stories are, I can't say. The second one was told to me by a ranger in Maine, I think one of the rangers who rescued the guy.
Also might want to watch your dogs. In 1985, Susan Butcher was racing in the the Iditarod and was attacked by a moose. It killed two and injured 13 of her dog team.
Define danger. They say they have pretty bad eyesight. Here's proof. Buffalo-Moose3.jpg
No the Moose will pretty much leave you alone, unless you are their during Rut season then you better watch out.
Another reason you might not want to bring your dog with you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xct0WYyY2jk
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing." Abraham Lincoln (1855)
You should give any wild animal its room.
Especially any animal that might outweigh you by 1000+ lbs
Boy two pages and not one monty python reference, got to be a record for whiteblaze
http://www.skeptictank.org/files/en001/grailsub.htm
On my Alaska trip in 2010, every program run by Park rangers in Denali, Kenai Fiords, and all other parks began with a safety orientation. Their line was pretty consistent: more people die from moose than bears, probably because everyone know how dangerous grizzlies are whereas average tourists mistakenly see moose as docile and friendly. Part of the orientation was to advise us that in wooded areas, moose are easy to escape from because of their poor eyesight and lack of quick mobility between the trees. And BTW, moose are much larger in Alaska.
On the AT, I've had 2 experiences with moose, both with cows. One was drinking from a creek only a few hundred yards from the Rattle River trailhead in NH. It was early October and I was impressed with how dark the moose was - almost black. The other was section hiking in Maine in August '05 near Sabbath Day Pond. A huge cow was on the trail but she bolted off into the underbrush looking very frightened. I thought to myself: what are you scared of - you could have crushed me easily!
Last edited by Cookerhiker; 04-11-2013 at 13:54.
Okay...I have to stop posting so much on WB, but I had to chime in here. I wanted to mention what I watch out for most when I'm in moose country because no one else has referred to what is my biggest moose fear in this thread so far.
I've been around plenty of upset cows and some rutting bulls and you do have to be careful around those buggers, but they don't bother me near as much as when I'm sleeping in my tent.
Very rarely do I tent near a shelter area. I prefer being off by myself. I set up my tent and try to make sure it is not in any kind of a remote type pathway that moose might use. They could easily walk right over a tent. I've had them come close in the middle of the night....much too close for comfort. It's not fun laying there listening to one busting through brush and you're just hoping not to be in their path.
I thought about hollering out the first time I had one coming towards my tent, but thought better. Hollering could have just scared it and made it start running....the last thing I wanted with me laying on the ground at night.
I've been lucky because I can only think of about four or five times that I've had moose near my tent. Each time I was glad I was out of any area that could be used for an easy path.
Stumpknocker
Appalachian Trail is 35.9% complete.
Good points and you're not the only one. I've been reading K1YPP's book Three Hundred Zeros where he describes several close encounters with moose at night.
That's enough from you, now get back to the Trail! Someone on this site has do some actual hiking!
You'll see a lot more moose poop than moose.
I've had two moose encounters - the first was a cow and calf on the trail. I darn near walked into momma moose, but she stepped on a twig & I looked up. Mom and child ignored me while I waited for them to cross the trail and move on.
The second encounter, I heard tremendous crashing through the woods. Couldn't see what was making the noise, but it was parallel to the trail, and you could see the trees quaking. It was either moose or bigfoot.
Concern level = 0 (except for all the ticks they carry) as long as Bullwinkle doesn't see you as a mating threat... or potential partner!
The first time I think I ran across a moose was just before darkness about 2 miles north of Pinkham Notch. I knew I wasn't going to make it to the road before nightfall, and the trail was so poorly marked that I didn't want to try by headlamp, so I was just searching for a flat spot for my tent. After a mile of walking with no luck, I crossed a wet area and found a reasonably flat spot in the middle of the trail. As I took off my pack, I heard a HUGE animal moving through the underbrush in the wet area. It took a while for my heart to slow down and my brain to kick in to realize that it was probably a moose. As I was lying down, all I could think about was that I was right in the middle of the only open area, in prime position to get stepped on my a lumbering moose. It took a while to drift off and I was up and out just before dawn.
Last September, on the last night of my section hike, I tarped at Little Swift River Pond Campsite, 9 miles south of Rangeley. I took a nice site 50 yards from the water. About 3 in the morning I heard these strange gutteral calls that I eventually determined had to be moose, plus a bunch of intermittent splashing. Having never seen a moose, I was tempted to pull out my headlamp and see what I could see, but fortunately realized that that could be a very bad idea. They called to each other up and down the bank of the pond for hours.
Fortunately, not more than a few miles from the Rangeley road crossing, I saw my first moose after passing a several groups in the prior half mile (the most people I had seen for days!). I came up a little hill and the towering backside of a moose was sticking out of the underbrush blocking the trail about 30 yards ahead, kind of like what you might imagine is behind a moose head hung on a wall. I clapped my hands to see if I could get its attention and these two gigantic antlers that I hadn't seen swiveled in my direction. So it was a bull moose, and I figured that I'd better keep quiet and still. He gracefully strode off between the small trees, but I never was able to get a decent picture of him as I had stowed away my camera and I only saw him in pieces. Huge animals.
GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014
Hi...
MuddyWaters has the right idea. If you're outweighed by almost a ton...you don't mess with it.
I've photographed them browsing and resting within ten feet of my camp in AK. Usually, they are afraid of humans...but NOT always.
I was almose trampled by one that came crashing down the trail I was on. I don't think it was deliberately after me...I just happened to be in the way. I ducked behind some trees, and was not scathed. Interesting episode, though...!!
Personally I wouldn't worry for one second about moose. I have encountered hundreds of them and I've had them brush against the sides of my cabin as they rounded the corner. I absolutely do NOT crowd them. I was afraid they were going to stomp my wiener dog a time or two when he figured he might try to round one up. A friend's dog was killed by a moose.
You will be lucky to see any and if you do the odds are incredibly low that you'll have any trouble with them as long as you don't go looking for trouble.
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