Shooldays, shooldays…
That could earn someone a rap on the knuckles.
Shooldays, shooldays…
That could earn someone a rap on the knuckles.
Definitely a european Møøse, not african.
A moose is a prey animal, so unlike with cougars, wolves and bears (oh my) you don’t make yourself big. You want to be nonthreatening. They’re not predators so they won’t chase you if you run away. Moose have famously poor vision, so you have to be extra clear.
HOWEVER, this big fella is a bull moose, and those antlers are for the rut (I assume this video is new, but that’s the end of September into October). It’s mating season. They’ll take anything as a challenge. They’ve beat up cars.
Our cameraman allowed this guy to walk up that close. Don’t do that. Put as much distance between you and a moose as possible. This is a solid mile closer to a bull moose in the rut than I want to be. If a bull moose is heading toward you, even walking, it’s because he wants to fight. Run away. Bulls during the rut will chase though, so keep stuff between you.
He made two mistakes – the first one was getting that close to a moose in the first place. I don’t see how that happens by surprise in open forest like that, with an animal the size of a horse.
I’m going to suggest the most radical “moose” as the plural.
[ducks, runs, hides somewhere just out of sight to see what happens. ]
When I read the headline, my reaction was, “then he made a mistake!?! No, the mistake was getting so close to begin with!”
Make like a tree and leave?
I have had a close encounter with a moose under similar conditions. I never saw the moose until we were perhaps 15-20 feet from it, at which point it took off running and scared the crap out of me. Fortunately, it was not aggressive, and ran away from us.
I agree that this man was Way Too Close, and perhaps he put himself in harm’s way by stalking the creature. Still, from my own experience I can say that it’s surprisingly easy to find yourself unexpectedly in moose proximity.
I walked out the back door of the hardware store in Homer, AK and right into a young moose come to town to browse on spruce tips. I was about 8 feet away from her. I just went back into the store and out the other door. Even young moose are quite large up close!
I’ve spent a lot of time back country across all of Canada and have seen plenty of these giants.
Some commented on him getting too close which is true; but, for their size they can be actually really quiet in the woods. Really, if you get that close staying in his line of sight (they have notoriously poor eyesight so if he can’t see you, that’s worse) and moving across his flank towards the tail AND placing trees between you and him is your best chance (NOTE: NOT across his path!).
That being said, we were chased by one through a copse of alders and the moose basically did the same levelling damage to those trees as any bulldozer would have!
I think you hear from this individual feller because he’s relatively young still. He looks big if you’re that close, but that one doesn’t look full grown to me. You can see it in the size of his bell. Older bulls’ bell will hang lower. Also, although he is likely in rutting season his fur is not heavily molting, more common in younger bulls. So, perhaps 4 - 6 years old…?
As @GutRot noted, during rut season they become more aggressive, ornery. Their response to “fright” is to go at it, not from it…Truth be told I don’t think I’d refer to a moose as frightened as they’re not afraid of much of anything.
Males and females will not put up with crap from any predator. Most predation on moose comes when they’re calves, although wolves and grizzly will hunt them. It’s a pretty even match depending on the day IMO
One thing is for sure: never bring a human to a moose fight!
Anyone else thinking of that dramatic encounter in Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet? He mentioned once that pretty much everything in the book actually happened to him at one point or another.
I recall the rather terrible movie version substituted a bear. Perhaps no one in the film crew could visualize a moose attack.
Yeah, that always causes a real schism.
Like “Featherstonehaugh” is pronounced “Fanshawe”?
Exactly. Rhymes with “moose”.
In myriad and sundry ways? Like in the US, I expect.
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