When Moose Attack

[imscotty]

A video of an interesting human/ moose encounter below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIgvCUXxh1Y&feature=player_embedded

Be careful out there. They get frisky this time of year.

[mudsocks]

Not sure it's all that interesting. Chasing a moose down the trail isn't particularly clever. The moose felt threatened and acted accordingly. Hopefully they'll exercise better judgement in the future.

[Malto]

Sorry but I was rooting for the moose.

[map man]

The title of the video is "Snowmobiler Moose Attack," but it ought to be called "Two Snowmobilers Harass a Moose." My empathy is entirely with the moose. I'm just glad that when one of the snowmobilers pulled out a gun that she didn't shoot the creature.

[Slo-go'en]

I chased a moose up the road with my MINI the other day, then he (or she) ran up my driveway! Here it is hiding in a stand of trees next to the driveway.
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[imscotty]

The couple that posted the video have stated that they did not intend to chase or harass the moose. They were heading down the trail in their snow machines when it ran out in front of them. You can see that they first slow down and then stop. But i agree that the moose was just doing what comes natural, defending himself. Always wise to give these animals a respectful distance.

[Feral Bill]

The couple that posted the video have stated that they did not intend to chase or harass the moose. They were heading down the trail in their snow machines when it ran out in front of them. You can see that they first slow down and then stop. But i agree that the moose was just doing what comes natural, defending himself. Always wise to give these animals a respectful distance. So they say, but they clearly continued to follow (pursue?) the fleeing moose for at least 100 yards and only stopped when the moose turned to confront them. The beast was a model of restraint, as far as the posted video shows.

It is a good reminder to photographers about not getting lost in the shot.

[SunnyWalker]

Typical mistakes. Glad the guy did not shoot himself. Too bad he discharged the pistol pointing up. Glad he didn't try to shoot the Moose.

[chiefiepoo]

26768Survived this close encounter with moose mom and calf on Isle Royale with much less drama. It was raining and I was walking head down scanning the trail when I sensed this big brown thing in front of me.http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/webkit-fake-url://0814ED3C-3966-430D-9E16-344AD4DADC62/46664_1339727422566_2720382_n.jpg

[Marta]

26780Taken while XC skiing this winter. I'm not actually that close--I enlarged and cropped the photo. Rather than try to get by, I turned around and skied away.

The video certainly looks to me as if the snowmobilers were chasing the moose.

[gumball]

Idiots. They are lucky they did not get stomped.

[RedBeerd]

That guy was almost clobbered into mousse.

[Del Q]

Good one, smart move keeping the helmet on.

A close encounter

[HikerMom58]

Wow... these moose pics are incredible everyone!! :D

[leaftye]

I'll give them credit for not shooting the moose. This was likely an avoidable event had they stopped when they first saw the moose on the trail, and stayed stopped until it moved off the trail. Waiting a few minutes isn't the end of the world, but pushing a moose too far can be for at least one party.

[Old Hillwalker]

My close encounter of the turd kind: One autumn day a couple of years ago I was just off the trail near Zealand Hut in the Whites doing my business with my trousers around my ankles and my pack on the ground. Just finishing up I heard a twig crack and heavy footfalls coming closer. About twenty feet away a large black shape was slowly moving directly toward me. I slowly pulled my breeches up and pulled my camera out of the belt pocket. Knowing that a Moose can quickly kill man I hoped that the small tree trunks between me and him would offer some protection should he charge. At about ten feet, he slowly tuned aside and passed me at about six feet distance. As he was passing he stopped and took a long leak, then proceeded on. If he had attacked, I would likely have been a dead man. My guess is that he weighed in at about 1200 pounds. 26783

[jeffmeh]

Here's a Shiras moose that Achilles and I encountered right out of the parking lot when hiking Mt. Bierstadt in Aug 2012. He had no interest in us whatsoever.

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[peakbagger]

I tell folks that at my home in Gorham NH, that moose are "annoying household pests". Years ago when I built my septic system I couldn't get final approval until there was ground cover on it. I would just get the grass growing and would stop by and there would be moose tracks through the middle of it. Eventually the grass took hold and they stopped using the route. I used to have moose shortcut across one corner of my house lot and rarely saw them but when I walk around the development I occasionally see moose prints in the shoulder of the road and see muddy tracks at the end of my road where there are a couple of wet spots that get run off from a major highway that goes by.

In late winter the moose are seriously stressed and in northern maine the snow pack still may be deep, the moose do get accustomed to walking on any beaten down path and a snowmobile trail is a great highway, I have encountered moose that are really not in the mood to step off a trail and chasing them with a sled is not the way to get them to move. I have in the past while winter snowshoeing have had moose follow my snowshoe tracks soon after I passed by as when descending, I see the tracks on top of what I had laid out a few hours before.

I will take them over Deer anytime, they dont eat the landscaping.