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Not really because wolves will go after the calves but don’t really mess with a fully grown moose as it’s too dangerous and risky for them, especially the bull moose. But in the rare occasion that it does happen it would take quite a few wolves to take a moose down and the moose would still kill a few of them regardless if they win or not.
>the moose would still kill a few of them regardless if they win or not.
I feel like this is a bit too certain of a statement. Just earlier today I read a story about Coyotes being forced to hunt moose, which caused them to attack and kill a human later. They were so used to fighting the larger prey they stopped perceiving humans as a threat.
I'd imagine a full on actual wolfpack would fare far better than Coyotes. I have zero doubt they would prefer to kill a baby moose, but there just really isnt enough combat footage of moose vs wolfs for me to be so sure the wolfpack would be outmatched.
Thats like one instance, you haven’t even mentioned which moose they’ve been hunting. Theres a reason this article you’re mentioned states that the wolves were “forced”
Its a known fact that wolves, or most pack predators for that matter, go after the young, old, and wounded first
~~That little tipping of it's head/antlers towards the hiker is a warning, "See these... wanna find out?".~~
Also look at it's ear, it's almost constantly pointed at the dude filming, making sure that the odd little biped won't be trying any funny stuff while he just continues on his way.
In Alaska if there is a "wolf kill" moose that is near to a town, the locals definitely get notified. It is so unusual and is a sign to be extra careful with pets.
I’ve seen the remains of a semi truck after hitting a bull, and it was totaled. My family has a camp deep in the woods in Maine and I’ve seen many moose, they are *not* to be fucked with.
There was a video I saw on r/all yesterday or the day before:
A wedding and in the background a bear killed a moose.
The newlyweds and the guests were pretty shocked.
Cant say if it was a calf or a grown up, I know fuck all about mooses.
I'd guess a juvenile 1-2 years old. After that they are already big enough that even if the bear would succeed in killing it, the mose would also have a high chance of wounding the bear and that's no bueno for a predator.
It's basically why small relatively harmless animals can scare off predators, as a injury to a predator has it risking starvation if it can't heal quickly enough to hunt again.
Pack hunting animals, like wolves can take more risks as usually the pack helps a injured member untill it's fit to hunt again.
Wolves tend to go for the weak and sick. If you've ever seen them hunt elk, they'll charge a pack and cause them to scatter, forcing them in a few directions until a straggler becomes evident and then taking that one down. Unless that moose was dragging a leg, they'd probably say fuck it.
If you’re trained with these animals you can sometimes tell where they’ve been because they do tend to leave a bit of a trail of destruction due to their size if they need to walk through a dense area. Same with Elephants. There are actually cleared out trails from hundreds/thousands of years of elephants walking the same path as their ancestors during migration, really fascinating.
They teach about avoiding meese in Alaskan driving school because they’re too tall and their eyes don’t reflect headlights
Yes, I know the plural of moose isn’t meese, I just like pissing people off with small grammar errors
I can confirm for personal experience, all you'll see at night (at most) is the legs of you're in a smaller car. The body can be completely above you. It's terrifying.
Mythbusters confirmed that if you hit a moose, you just leg sweep them and they land on your windshield. Then they go through your windshield because they're like 2 tons of moving brick wall.
>Yes, I know the plural of moose isn’t meese, I just like pissing people off with small grammar errors
Disirregardless, the accepted misspelling of meese are moosen.
Terrifying in a small number of scenarios, however simply amazing all other times.
In my home town having moose cow/calf pairs come out of the bush and into town is very common. Respect their space and you can enjoy seeing them browse on the bushes and trees in your yard.
I have only had scares when I accidentally found myself out on a trail where a cow and calf were browsing. Cow moose can aggressively defend their young. Often they will simply turn away and leave, which is fine. If you notice that Momma has her ears back flat, and her "hackles" on her shoulders are up, you know it's YOU that had better back away in the direction you came from.
> If you notice that Momma has her ears back flat, and her "hackles" on her shoulders are up, you know it's YOU that had better back away in the direction you came from.
I'm going to remember this, because it's potentially useful information. Even though I live in the Netherlands and the chances of me meeting a moose is less than zero.
Can't argue with that but in my experience they only bite when they feel cornered. They will flee if they feel like they have a chance to. Biggest problems are usually any species that are ambush predators and stay still waiting for a meal.
>Even though I live in the Netherlands and the chances of me meeting a moose is less than zero.
What a coincidence, I live in Nederland (Colorado, USA) and I see moose all the time!
Years ago I was downhill mountain biking in the Rockies (Fernie, BC). I had a seasons pass and was there every weekend. One day I was the last one on the chairlift up, and I always ended my day on a run called Top Gun. I would time myself - trying to beat my personal best. Now this run was pretty fast and flowy (hence the name) and the start of run had a bunch of berms before you hit a blind drop (you couldn’t see the landing spot until you were in the air) that landed on a skinny bridge in a thicket of trees. I was ripping as fast as I could to try and hit this with a good amount of speed, but saw that 2 riders were off their bikes standing on the trail. At first I was kinda pissed because (a) you’re not supposed to stop on the trail, it’s dangerous (b) I lost all my speed to hit the jump. Anyways, I ask them what’s up and the guy was like “there’s a moose and 2 calves down there”. So I look over the edge and sure enough a moose and it’s calves were on the small bridge eating vegetation. We stood there for a bit watching them and eventually we had to hike across the side of the mountain and find another way down. It wasn’t till I was driving home that it really hit me how close I was to being stomped by a moose. Not sure how the other riders managed to see the moose, but I would have been in the air hurdling towards them if they had not been stopped on the trail. I’m glad I didn’t find out what would have happened.
Yep, exactly. Once when I was a kid I sleeded down a slope and suddenly saw a female with her ears back too close for my comfort. I broke my personal kid running record going back up that slope. As I turned around I saw from her tracks that we had just accidentally met on the open plain, and she continued running off in her direction minding her business.
So yeah, respect each other's space.
In my city they frequently come in town through the grassy easement to eat off the trees dangling over the fences. Couple years ago there was a mother in calf that was down our easement that the fish and wildlife officers were concerned about because it was roaming at the same time that the children were about to get out of school and walk down the basement to go home. They actually tranquilized it against my back fence, it was pretty cool to watch it happen
If being charged by a moose or elk, run to a very sturdy tree and stand behind it. Let the tree take the hit. When the animal tries a different direction, keep the tree between you. Eventually it'll get bored and wander off. They can't turn as quick as you can behind the tree. Make sure it's beefy, like pine. Aspens, not so much.
Hell yeah. There is a MtG card that does the same for me. Old stickfingers.
https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=535030&type=card
That’s a perfect description of being close to one. It was terrifying and amazing and humbling.
If brings out a primal fear in you, but in the background you’re busting with excitement because of how special the experience is.
You’re damn straight. I’ve worked in the bush all my life and have had lots of run ins with bears, including grizzlies, but the most scared I’ve ever been was getting chased by a moose in the fall. It just kept running after me. It could have got me if it wanted but I think he just wanted me off it’s turf.
A buddy of mine and I had a bull moose wander into our camp on the Continental Divide in Glacier National park. As soon as he heard us in the tent he charged the tent, we scammed out of there in our underwear and straight up two trees. Every time we tried to come down he charged us. Eventually he would hide in the bush and be quiet until we came down then charges again. 4 and 1/2 hours we spent in those trees.
Well we got down four or five times during the night but he would charge out of the dark at us. Finally about dawn we tried again and he didn't appear. We were so tired and mosquito bitten we were willing to take the chance. One of the longest nights of my life. Funny now, sure as hell wasn't then, he chomped all over our backpacking equipment, flattened our tent. We were worried about grizzly bears but the moose turned out to be the problem! Although we did see a few Griz as well. We were 3 weeks on foot away from the car, absolutely spectacular trip, hiked to all four corners of the park.
Oh we saved most of our stuff, it was just stomped on and scattered around. He didn't really eat any of the food, apparently he was after salt because he chewed up our sweaty t-shirts that were sitting out drying. The funny thing was when we first set up camp we looked around to see if there were any trees we could climb in case of grizzly came in, both of us determined that we wouldn't be able to climb any of those trees. When the Moose showed up at midnight we were up there in seconds!
You are not safe from a grizzly bear in a tree. They can climb, and you have nowhere else to run. If a grizzly comes after you, don't run either. Your best bet is to keep quiet (yelling can trigger them to charge), raise your arms above your head or use your jacket to make you look bigger, avoid eye contact as that can be seen as a challenge, and *slowly* back away without turning your back. If that fails and it charges you anyways, hit it with bear spray or shoot it. If those options aren't available to you...well let's just say you should *never* go to a place inhabited by grizzly bears without a can of bear spray.
Yes, I'm aware of all the grizzly bear procedures. This all occurred about 35 years ago, I have faced off with bear numerous times successfully. Thanks for your input. I hope it helps others.
Fun fact that I learned at the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont: During mating season, the males often dig a pit with their hooves and fill it with urine to attract females. ("Hey, ladies, look what I got over here!")
Also, they can dive up to 12 feet to feed on plants at the bottom of lakes and ponds.
I heard somewhere that male moose aren't territorial, as it turns out, and being herbivores they just have zero interest in going out of their way to fuck you up unless you present a clear threat to them. You can actually run away from a male moose and it's very unlikely to give chase. They just don't give a shit about you.
The same is mostly true for female moose, unless they have a baby with them. Then they'll tear you apart.
Yeah. North American Mammals like Moose, Elk and bison are way bigger than you think. They’re not the size of cattle or deer, they dwarf them. They’re like twice the size of them.
Yah the first time I saw one was in the back of a guy truck in hunting season. Its head was hanging off one side and its legs were off the other and yet the back was still full.
It's not even a particularly huge example.
I'm on the Sask prairies and the southern area moose that feed on alfalfa fields and prairie slough grass can get monster big. Big plates are one thing but body size and musculature can be quite impressive. Not to mention the waddle beard that gets longer with age.
It really is insane how big they are. I came face to face with one a few years ago while walking around my neighborhood. I showed the video to my uncle and said....."look how big it is!" He was like, yeah, that's still likely a calf, probably just under a year old. It was VERY interested in me, and I was fucking terrified.
What’s also terrifying is 1000-1500lb animal can move through the woods almost silently.
I used to hunt with my dad and it wasn’t uncommon to be walking in the woods and realize a moose walked up on us and was 20-30’ away and we didn’t hear it.
Look over here, nothing.\
Look over there, nothing.\
Look back over here and\
WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT COME FROM?!
About 20 years ago, my friend and I were camping at Moskey Basin on Isle Royale. We heard from plenty of other hikers there that they had seen moose, but we never did, well not technically. One night in the tent, my buddy was drowsing off and I was still awake. Suddenly, I heard the "clomp-clomp" of giant footsteps. I shook my friend and told him to get up because I thought there was a moose outside. Soon enough our faces are poking out of the partially unzipped tent door and it was pretty dark. We never could actually *see* him, but in the darkness we saw a huge dark mass that was blacker than the rest of the surrounding night. You could hear him breathing and maybe chewing on something. I really wanted to shine my flashlight on him so that we could actually see him. My friend was very insistant that I should *not* do that. I think he was wise and I didn't do it. We eventually zipped up the door and after a few minutes you could here those massive footsteps walk away. We never did actually *see* a moose on that trip, but that one standing there couldn't have been more than 20 feet away from us.
Edited: for grammar and typos.
Also went to Isle Royale. On the 6.5h boat ride over from Houghton we were told by a ranger that if a moose charges you, a) you got too close, and b) hide behind a tree since the bull moose can’t get around it fast enough to get to you with those antlers. What didn’t help was that the moose figured that the wolves (20 yrs ago) didn’t hang around humans, so they took to being around humans, so that didn’t help. One blocked our trail for like 20 mins while it ate leisurely.
Your supposed to curl up into a ball and protect your head with your hands until the moose moves a safe distance away. You under no circumstances are to look bigger and more threatening because that will motivate the moose to finish you off. They are not a skittish animal and there is no way in hell you are going to make yourself big enough to make a moose back down.
DO NOT LAY DOWN. RUN put a tree between you and the animal if possible. Prey animals will stomp you to death they are not attacking you they are defending them selves.
If it knocks you down, curl up into a ball and play dead. This position will help protect your head and organs.
Don’t get up until it has left the area or it may attack again. Remember, it’s not trying to eat you, just neutralize the threat.
Alaskan here, yes the proper defense is to get trees between you and you will be fine, curling up in a ball is stupid, you will get stomped to death, don’t yell but do run and dodge if there is nothing to hide behind. They charge but but don’t chase.
This could be completely incorrect, but I read while researching hikes in moose territory, to try to put a big tree or boulder between you and the moose. I think it probably has to do with turning radius :)
Somebody mentioned on another subreddit at the same video that the moose knows he is there. You can see this by looking at his ears pointing at him, the way horses do as well.
As another commenter mentioned, it’s still worth hiding. By hiding, the moose knows you’re not a threat and will likely leave you alone.
Plus, if it charges you, hiding behind trees helps because they struggle to turn on a dime
My most terrifying moose encounter came when driving out of Algonquin Park (in Ontario) after a couple of weeks camping.
We were driving along a dirt road - my friend was driving, and it was dark. Suddenly, there was a moose calf on the road in front of us.
It saw us, and took off in fear down the road. Unfortunately, although it could easily have lost us by simply turning off the road, it refused to do so - because the road was empty and so easy to run along, I assume.
Anyway, we would have stopped and let the calf escape, except for one thing - coming up behind us was the mother moose, and she was not happy. She emerged from the woods behind the car, then charged down the road - apparently intent on flattening our car, which was “chasing” her calf.
So we couldn’t stop - if we did, mom would stomp us. We couldn’t speed up - if we did, we would hit the calf (and then mom would maul us, with a vengeance). We were stuck in this absurd convoy - mom, us, and the calf.
I can still remember bumping along that dirt road, headlights weaving up and down, occasionally catching the calf in their beams; and me staring behind us at that huge shaggy shadow thundering after us, like some sort of primitive nemesis. I was praying we wouldn’t find a tree down across the road … I guess if that happened we’d have to dodge mom through the trees on foot. I didn’t fancy our chances.
Eventually, we came to a place where the road went through a bit of a clearing, and the calf finally turned off the road. Mom chased us a bit more as we sped away, then was finally satisfied she had saved her calf, let us go.
One real danger from moose is the unfortunate situation of them crossing a highway at night and you crash into them. They are quite tall and a lot of vehicles kind of go under the animal creating a situation where the moose literally comes over the hood and through the windshield. A teacher of mine in high school had that happen in a full sized vehicle (basically a GMC Suburban) and while he ducked his head he didn't let go of the steering wheel. The moose's body crunched his fingers and he had permanent damage of varying degrees to all his fingers excluding his thumbs.
Yup, here in Maine my drivers ed had a specific section about not hitting moose lol. I've seen a lot up close and it's never worried me too much, but hitting one scares the shit out of me because my instructors put the fear of God in me like a decade and a half ago.
There was also a short bit about never driving into hay piles because you don't know what's in there. I know that sounds made up but I promise it isn't. Even for such a rural state, I thought that was pretty funny.
When I was in Salt Lake City the advice I got was if you see a baby anything get the hell out of there cause mama is right around the corner. Even male bears are likely to leave you alone if you don’t get close to their food. Lady bears not so much!
The Grizzly would like to have a chat with ya.... Also, how do you mention bees/wasps without mosquitos? The mosquito has killed millions, way more than man.
Not in North America. You are absolutely right that mosquito’s kill thousands every year…but principally in Africa and South America. Grizzlies are dangerous, but I think Moose edge them out on the whole
How does an animal like that with such large antlers not get tangled in the brush all the time. Especially with all those trees growing so close together.
They tilt their head back and run through the woods and use their antlers like a snowplow.
And weighing 1000+ lbs, there’s not much that can stop them.
Seeing one of those beasts first hand I can say that the video doesn't give anyone who hasn't seen one of them first hand the ability to comprehend just how large that bull is. In or out of season, they are nothing to play with. But this is Reddit after all, so I'm sure there is some vid floating around of some idiot trying to pull its tail.
When I was a kid, an older family member lived in a place with a yard that backed up to a fence, with woods behind it and train tracks not too far from the fence. Well there was a moose who loved to come and hang his head over the fence for a little while, either before or after standing on the train tracks and making the train stop and wait for the moose until it decided to mosey off. I thought it was the funniest thing ever, and the adults had to warn me pretty hard to stay away from the moose. I still never really saw the danger. As an adult, it's very clear!
Family member lived in Banff, Alberta for a long time. One Spring some guys from NYC showed up for a x-country ski trip into the back country. They'd hit the outfitters in Calgary and bought "all the best gear." Everyone told them, "Get a guide. There are some really great professional guides in town and you're nuts to go out there without one." They weren't having it. So off they go on their own and it was a couple of days later at the most that one of them came back to town with nothing left but the clothes he was wearing. They'd come upon a moose standing in the middle of the trail. It didn't move when they told it to so his friend skied up to it and poked it with a ski pole. It stomped him into mush on the trail and the survivor barely got away himself. The wardens from Parcs Canada went out and brought what was left of the guy back in trash bags.
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man they get BIG
How the fuck would he get through that forest without the road, those antlers look like a massive pain in the arse
They usually are in less tree dense areas but if they need to they will knock down small to mid sized trees, or bend them so they don’t get stuck.
Makes sense. Wouldn't they hamper an escape from a pack of wolves though? I guess breeding success trumps optimising survival
I think the trees would hamper the escape *of* the pack of wolves.
call an ambulance… BUT NOT FOR ME
You’re locked in here with me!
You know, I tried to picture Rorschach as a moose, and it ends up just being a very unhinged Bullwinkle.
Not really because wolves will go after the calves but don’t really mess with a fully grown moose as it’s too dangerous and risky for them, especially the bull moose. But in the rare occasion that it does happen it would take quite a few wolves to take a moose down and the moose would still kill a few of them regardless if they win or not.
>the moose would still kill a few of them regardless if they win or not. I feel like this is a bit too certain of a statement. Just earlier today I read a story about Coyotes being forced to hunt moose, which caused them to attack and kill a human later. They were so used to fighting the larger prey they stopped perceiving humans as a threat. I'd imagine a full on actual wolfpack would fare far better than Coyotes. I have zero doubt they would prefer to kill a baby moose, but there just really isnt enough combat footage of moose vs wolfs for me to be so sure the wolfpack would be outmatched.
Thats like one instance, you haven’t even mentioned which moose they’ve been hunting. Theres a reason this article you’re mentioned states that the wolves were “forced” Its a known fact that wolves, or most pack predators for that matter, go after the young, old, and wounded first
LoL - no animal on the planet (well...except orca) is looking at thing and seeing food. It doesn't run from anything.
Its body language is all confidence.
~~That little tipping of it's head/antlers towards the hiker is a warning, "See these... wanna find out?".~~ Also look at it's ear, it's almost constantly pointed at the dude filming, making sure that the odd little biped won't be trying any funny stuff while he just continues on his way.
He's tipping to stay clear of the tree, animals are acutely aware of their antler and horn placement to not get caught on things.
This animal takes down cars. Wolves wouldn't even try unless it was dying or badly injured. They DO NOT get scared or backdown to anything smaller.
Are there any emo beta moose out there that aren't aggressive?
In Alaska if there is a "wolf kill" moose that is near to a town, the locals definitely get notified. It is so unusual and is a sign to be extra careful with pets.
I’ve seen the remains of a semi truck after hitting a bull, and it was totaled. My family has a camp deep in the woods in Maine and I’ve seen many moose, they are *not* to be fucked with.
There was a video I saw on r/all yesterday or the day before: A wedding and in the background a bear killed a moose. The newlyweds and the guests were pretty shocked. Cant say if it was a calf or a grown up, I know fuck all about mooses.
I'd guess a juvenile 1-2 years old. After that they are already big enough that even if the bear would succeed in killing it, the mose would also have a high chance of wounding the bear and that's no bueno for a predator. It's basically why small relatively harmless animals can scare off predators, as a injury to a predator has it risking starvation if it can't heal quickly enough to hunt again. Pack hunting animals, like wolves can take more risks as usually the pack helps a injured member untill it's fit to hunt again.
Just other Meece 🙏
I think you mean moosen
Haha, long time since I heard a Brian Regan reference
Many much moosen. Out in the woodsen.
Wolves tend to go for the weak and sick. If you've ever seen them hunt elk, they'll charge a pack and cause them to scatter, forcing them in a few directions until a straggler becomes evident and then taking that one down. Unless that moose was dragging a leg, they'd probably say fuck it.
If you’re trained with these animals you can sometimes tell where they’ve been because they do tend to leave a bit of a trail of destruction due to their size if they need to walk through a dense area. Same with Elephants. There are actually cleared out trails from hundreds/thousands of years of elephants walking the same path as their ancestors during migration, really fascinating.
Nature's "Desire path"
They get bigger than that too 😳
The scariest part is that this is just an average moose. This is like the Moose equivalent of a 5’9 white guy.
Excuse me sir I am 165 lbs of fury
Are you a certain kind of animal, like a cat or a wolf or whatever, or do you consider yourself just a furry in general?
Yes
They teach about avoiding meese in Alaskan driving school because they’re too tall and their eyes don’t reflect headlights Yes, I know the plural of moose isn’t meese, I just like pissing people off with small grammar errors
I can confirm for personal experience, all you'll see at night (at most) is the legs of you're in a smaller car. The body can be completely above you. It's terrifying.
I almost hit one with my motor home while I was going 70 mph. Had to pull over for an hour to calm down. Woulda killed me for sure.
Oh yeah, they’re basically brick walls
They're cows on stilts, I've often heard the real danger in a collision is them toppling onto the roof of the car that hit them.
Mythbusters confirmed that if you hit a moose, you just leg sweep them and they land on your windshield. Then they go through your windshield because they're like 2 tons of moving brick wall.
>Yes, I know the plural of moose isn’t meese, I just like pissing people off with small grammar errors Disirregardless, the accepted misspelling of meese are moosen.
Such a terrifyingly gorgeous animal.
Terrifying in a small number of scenarios, however simply amazing all other times. In my home town having moose cow/calf pairs come out of the bush and into town is very common. Respect their space and you can enjoy seeing them browse on the bushes and trees in your yard. I have only had scares when I accidentally found myself out on a trail where a cow and calf were browsing. Cow moose can aggressively defend their young. Often they will simply turn away and leave, which is fine. If you notice that Momma has her ears back flat, and her "hackles" on her shoulders are up, you know it's YOU that had better back away in the direction you came from.
> If you notice that Momma has her ears back flat, and her "hackles" on her shoulders are up, you know it's YOU that had better back away in the direction you came from. I'm going to remember this, because it's potentially useful information. Even though I live in the Netherlands and the chances of me meeting a moose is less than zero.
Give wild animals a wide berth and things will mostly be fine.
Works great for me with people.
This comment should have more upvotes
So often true, many animals that have terrible reputations are generally fine if you give them a bit of space. Snakes being a prime example
The problem with snakes is that they're generally well camouflaged. It's hard to give space to something you can't see.
Can't argue with that but in my experience they only bite when they feel cornered. They will flee if they feel like they have a chance to. Biggest problems are usually any species that are ambush predators and stay still waiting for a meal.
Same logic applies for most animals. Dogs, horses, or whatever else.
>Even though I live in the Netherlands and the chances of me meeting a moose is less than zero. What a coincidence, I live in Nederland (Colorado, USA) and I see moose all the time!
Years ago I was downhill mountain biking in the Rockies (Fernie, BC). I had a seasons pass and was there every weekend. One day I was the last one on the chairlift up, and I always ended my day on a run called Top Gun. I would time myself - trying to beat my personal best. Now this run was pretty fast and flowy (hence the name) and the start of run had a bunch of berms before you hit a blind drop (you couldn’t see the landing spot until you were in the air) that landed on a skinny bridge in a thicket of trees. I was ripping as fast as I could to try and hit this with a good amount of speed, but saw that 2 riders were off their bikes standing on the trail. At first I was kinda pissed because (a) you’re not supposed to stop on the trail, it’s dangerous (b) I lost all my speed to hit the jump. Anyways, I ask them what’s up and the guy was like “there’s a moose and 2 calves down there”. So I look over the edge and sure enough a moose and it’s calves were on the small bridge eating vegetation. We stood there for a bit watching them and eventually we had to hike across the side of the mountain and find another way down. It wasn’t till I was driving home that it really hit me how close I was to being stomped by a moose. Not sure how the other riders managed to see the moose, but I would have been in the air hurdling towards them if they had not been stopped on the trail. I’m glad I didn’t find out what would have happened.
Had a mama and two calves settle down in my back yard once. Loved it though I couldn't let the dog out while they were there.
Yep, exactly. Once when I was a kid I sleeded down a slope and suddenly saw a female with her ears back too close for my comfort. I broke my personal kid running record going back up that slope. As I turned around I saw from her tracks that we had just accidentally met on the open plain, and she continued running off in her direction minding her business. So yeah, respect each other's space.
In my city they frequently come in town through the grassy easement to eat off the trees dangling over the fences. Couple years ago there was a mother in calf that was down our easement that the fish and wildlife officers were concerned about because it was roaming at the same time that the children were about to get out of school and walk down the basement to go home. They actually tranquilized it against my back fence, it was pretty cool to watch it happen
I saw a momma and 2 babies a month or so ago on a gravel road walked right in front of my work truck. It was awesome!
Thank you for answering my question, are they mean. They are massive
If being charged by a moose or elk, run to a very sturdy tree and stand behind it. Let the tree take the hit. When the animal tries a different direction, keep the tree between you. Eventually it'll get bored and wander off. They can't turn as quick as you can behind the tree. Make sure it's beefy, like pine. Aspens, not so much.
This creature gives off a "The Ritual" vibes
Exactly what I thought- never expected anyone else to make the same connection! Stunning movie. Basically 'Jaws' in Swedish with added terror..
Love that film
Hell yeah. There is a MtG card that does the same for me. Old stickfingers. https://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=535030&type=card
That’s a perfect description of being close to one. It was terrifying and amazing and humbling. If brings out a primal fear in you, but in the background you’re busting with excitement because of how special the experience is.
This is why our ancestors are ashamed of us, dude didn't even throw a single hand carved atlatl bolt at it
Nah. Our ancestors would know better than to fuck with this thing when it's just you by yourself.
Agreed! One of my fave animals.
Just like my gf
we know, bro.. right, guys?
Where i live we call them the King of the Forest
[удалено]
I would take it a step further and say that a bull moose during rutting season is the most dangerous animal in North America
You’re damn straight. I’ve worked in the bush all my life and have had lots of run ins with bears, including grizzlies, but the most scared I’ve ever been was getting chased by a moose in the fall. It just kept running after me. It could have got me if it wanted but I think he just wanted me off it’s turf.
A buddy of mine and I had a bull moose wander into our camp on the Continental Divide in Glacier National park. As soon as he heard us in the tent he charged the tent, we scammed out of there in our underwear and straight up two trees. Every time we tried to come down he charged us. Eventually he would hide in the bush and be quiet until we came down then charges again. 4 and 1/2 hours we spent in those trees.
How did you get down?
Well we got down four or five times during the night but he would charge out of the dark at us. Finally about dawn we tried again and he didn't appear. We were so tired and mosquito bitten we were willing to take the chance. One of the longest nights of my life. Funny now, sure as hell wasn't then, he chomped all over our backpacking equipment, flattened our tent. We were worried about grizzly bears but the moose turned out to be the problem! Although we did see a few Griz as well. We were 3 weeks on foot away from the car, absolutely spectacular trip, hiked to all four corners of the park.
Wait, you were three weeks on foot from the car when this happened? How the hell did you get back without all your stuff
Oh we saved most of our stuff, it was just stomped on and scattered around. He didn't really eat any of the food, apparently he was after salt because he chewed up our sweaty t-shirts that were sitting out drying. The funny thing was when we first set up camp we looked around to see if there were any trees we could climb in case of grizzly came in, both of us determined that we wouldn't be able to climb any of those trees. When the Moose showed up at midnight we were up there in seconds!
You are not safe from a grizzly bear in a tree. They can climb, and you have nowhere else to run. If a grizzly comes after you, don't run either. Your best bet is to keep quiet (yelling can trigger them to charge), raise your arms above your head or use your jacket to make you look bigger, avoid eye contact as that can be seen as a challenge, and *slowly* back away without turning your back. If that fails and it charges you anyways, hit it with bear spray or shoot it. If those options aren't available to you...well let's just say you should *never* go to a place inhabited by grizzly bears without a can of bear spray.
Yes, I'm aware of all the grizzly bear procedures. This all occurred about 35 years ago, I have faced off with bear numerous times successfully. Thanks for your input. I hope it helps others.
Yeah moose are scary but try getting away from a polar bear
Yeah man, usually there is so much fucking snow you can barely move and it comes 30mph at ya
Or being chased by a Siberian tiger.
Or a honey badger.
Or a Koala
OR MY AXE
Im scared now.
Or a flying cockroach
Or a flying cock.
and so what, you jumped on a cloud and escaped?
The moose scooped him up and launched him into the sky team rocket style.
Polar bear
Damn straight. Or a grizzly. Moose can’t climb trees
Les Stroud is that you?
I'll take it another step forward and say a moose is the most dangerous year round, they attack more people then wolves and bears combined.
After that would be a cow moose with a young calf. Had a run in with that scenario a few times and it was scary.
Fun fact that I learned at the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont: During mating season, the males often dig a pit with their hooves and fill it with urine to attract females. ("Hey, ladies, look what I got over here!") Also, they can dive up to 12 feet to feed on plants at the bottom of lakes and ponds.
So mooses fill holes with piss to get females but when I do it at home I'm a disgrace to the family and get kicked out of the house
Man, imagine being a moose walking through the woods and you spot a small monkey staring at you from behind a tree. That’s scary.
I was just thinking this lol that moose is probably like "fucking weirdo" as it lumbers by lol
Surprised the moose didn’t smell the shit in his pants
I'd be scent-marking the damned tree. Huge animal.
I assume the moose knew he was there but respected the man’s ability to stay the fuck out of his way
I thought this too.
He absolutely sees him and hears him. Look at his ears as he walks.
Moose totally knew. Even did ye olde "Tip o' the antler to ye!"
Watch the ears. He's keeping them focused on the person
I heard somewhere that male moose aren't territorial, as it turns out, and being herbivores they just have zero interest in going out of their way to fuck you up unless you present a clear threat to them. You can actually run away from a male moose and it's very unlikely to give chase. They just don't give a shit about you. The same is mostly true for female moose, unless they have a baby with them. Then they'll tear you apart.
Unless it's mating season.
People keep saying “that’s a huge moose!” No, that’s a regular sized adult male moose. They’re that big.
Looking at them, they do feel like something that made it out of the prehistoric era that shouldn’t have.
If I understand it correctly, they’re the last living megafauna of North America.
What are bison?
I’m not sure, it was just something I heard about moose but I can see how it could apply to Bison too, but I’m not sure what the criteria are
“Megafauna” refers to any animal over 100 pounds.
TIL I'm megafauna
I used the megafauna to destroy the megafauna
Grizzlies, polar bears, bison, moose, and tapirs (used to be, now only in central America) are all considered megafauna. Idk if caribou are.
I beg you pardon? That mf in the video is BIG and you're saying there are bigger ones?
Yeah. North American Mammals like Moose, Elk and bison are way bigger than you think. They’re not the size of cattle or deer, they dwarf them. They’re like twice the size of them.
Never really hit me how big elk or moose can be till I read a post where a woman's dogs decided to hole up inside an elk's rib cage
Man conditions at her house must have really sucked.
My boss' husband hit an elk with their big ass Toyota tundra and it totalled the truck and put him in a coma
Yah the first time I saw one was in the back of a guy truck in hunting season. Its head was hanging off one side and its legs were off the other and yet the back was still full.
It's not even a particularly huge example. I'm on the Sask prairies and the southern area moose that feed on alfalfa fields and prairie slough grass can get monster big. Big plates are one thing but body size and musculature can be quite impressive. Not to mention the waddle beard that gets longer with age.
It really is insane how big they are. I came face to face with one a few years ago while walking around my neighborhood. I showed the video to my uncle and said....."look how big it is!" He was like, yeah, that's still likely a calf, probably just under a year old. It was VERY interested in me, and I was fucking terrified.
What’s also terrifying is 1000-1500lb animal can move through the woods almost silently. I used to hunt with my dad and it wasn’t uncommon to be walking in the woods and realize a moose walked up on us and was 20-30’ away and we didn’t hear it. Look over here, nothing.\ Look over there, nothing.\ Look back over here and\ WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT COME FROM?!
Every time I see pic of moose, I’m once again amazed about the size
The moose in the video actually looks a little smaller side of average
There are no bananas for scale, but yeah, it looks like this moose is on the smaller size.
r/absoluteunits
About 20 years ago, my friend and I were camping at Moskey Basin on Isle Royale. We heard from plenty of other hikers there that they had seen moose, but we never did, well not technically. One night in the tent, my buddy was drowsing off and I was still awake. Suddenly, I heard the "clomp-clomp" of giant footsteps. I shook my friend and told him to get up because I thought there was a moose outside. Soon enough our faces are poking out of the partially unzipped tent door and it was pretty dark. We never could actually *see* him, but in the darkness we saw a huge dark mass that was blacker than the rest of the surrounding night. You could hear him breathing and maybe chewing on something. I really wanted to shine my flashlight on him so that we could actually see him. My friend was very insistant that I should *not* do that. I think he was wise and I didn't do it. We eventually zipped up the door and after a few minutes you could here those massive footsteps walk away. We never did actually *see* a moose on that trip, but that one standing there couldn't have been more than 20 feet away from us. Edited: for grammar and typos.
Also went to Isle Royale. On the 6.5h boat ride over from Houghton we were told by a ranger that if a moose charges you, a) you got too close, and b) hide behind a tree since the bull moose can’t get around it fast enough to get to you with those antlers. What didn’t help was that the moose figured that the wolves (20 yrs ago) didn’t hang around humans, so they took to being around humans, so that didn’t help. One blocked our trail for like 20 mins while it ate leisurely.
I mean, what do you do, if a moose attacks you, just scream for elk..?
Your supposed to curl up into a ball and protect your head with your hands until the moose moves a safe distance away. You under no circumstances are to look bigger and more threatening because that will motivate the moose to finish you off. They are not a skittish animal and there is no way in hell you are going to make yourself big enough to make a moose back down.
I just avoid the whole thing by staying behind my computer here. Have you ever seen a moose by a computer? Didn’t think so.
Oh, really?
*Better check behind you*
Lie down and play dead. That way you’ll have about one minute of relaxation before he actually kills you.
While you’re down, tell him a funny joke. He might postpone the execution by a minute or two.
Hey Bullwinkle, what did the cow moose say when the bull dug a hole and pissed in it?
DO NOT LAY DOWN. RUN put a tree between you and the animal if possible. Prey animals will stomp you to death they are not attacking you they are defending them selves. If it knocks you down, curl up into a ball and play dead. This position will help protect your head and organs. Don’t get up until it has left the area or it may attack again. Remember, it’s not trying to eat you, just neutralize the threat.
Yeah I’m shocked that everyone is saying to lay down/curl up. The absolute last way I want to go in nature is by being stomped.
I believe the proper defense is to place your head firmly between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.
Could you not just walk into those dense trees? How could it possibly get through with those antlers?
Alaskan here, yes the proper defense is to get trees between you and you will be fine, curling up in a ball is stupid, you will get stomped to death, don’t yell but do run and dodge if there is nothing to hide behind. They charge but but don’t chase.
Moose are known to knock down small to mid sized trees.
Mid size tree? False. Plenty of 6-10” trees have saved me from moose. I’m a land surveyor that lives in Alaska. It happens several times a year.
This could be completely incorrect, but I read while researching hikes in moose territory, to try to put a big tree or boulder between you and the moose. I think it probably has to do with turning radius :)
I just want to say, I got your pun. I see you.
I'd have climbed and died in that tree like Edgar who died up that tower in Tremors.
Somebody mentioned on another subreddit at the same video that the moose knows he is there. You can see this by looking at his ears pointing at him, the way horses do as well.
As another commenter mentioned, it’s still worth hiding. By hiding, the moose knows you’re not a threat and will likely leave you alone. Plus, if it charges you, hiding behind trees helps because they struggle to turn on a dime
My most terrifying moose encounter came when driving out of Algonquin Park (in Ontario) after a couple of weeks camping. We were driving along a dirt road - my friend was driving, and it was dark. Suddenly, there was a moose calf on the road in front of us. It saw us, and took off in fear down the road. Unfortunately, although it could easily have lost us by simply turning off the road, it refused to do so - because the road was empty and so easy to run along, I assume. Anyway, we would have stopped and let the calf escape, except for one thing - coming up behind us was the mother moose, and she was not happy. She emerged from the woods behind the car, then charged down the road - apparently intent on flattening our car, which was “chasing” her calf. So we couldn’t stop - if we did, mom would stomp us. We couldn’t speed up - if we did, we would hit the calf (and then mom would maul us, with a vengeance). We were stuck in this absurd convoy - mom, us, and the calf. I can still remember bumping along that dirt road, headlights weaving up and down, occasionally catching the calf in their beams; and me staring behind us at that huge shaggy shadow thundering after us, like some sort of primitive nemesis. I was praying we wouldn’t find a tree down across the road … I guess if that happened we’d have to dodge mom through the trees on foot. I didn’t fancy our chances. Eventually, we came to a place where the road went through a bit of a clearing, and the calf finally turned off the road. Mom chased us a bit more as we sped away, then was finally satisfied she had saved her calf, let us go.
Who needs Jurassic Park or Universal Studios when you have Algonquin Park eh?
The moose already knew he was there
For sure but since the human was hiding they know you’re not being aggressive.
One real danger from moose is the unfortunate situation of them crossing a highway at night and you crash into them. They are quite tall and a lot of vehicles kind of go under the animal creating a situation where the moose literally comes over the hood and through the windshield. A teacher of mine in high school had that happen in a full sized vehicle (basically a GMC Suburban) and while he ducked his head he didn't let go of the steering wheel. The moose's body crunched his fingers and he had permanent damage of varying degrees to all his fingers excluding his thumbs.
Yup, here in Maine my drivers ed had a specific section about not hitting moose lol. I've seen a lot up close and it's never worried me too much, but hitting one scares the shit out of me because my instructors put the fear of God in me like a decade and a half ago. There was also a short bit about never driving into hay piles because you don't know what's in there. I know that sounds made up but I promise it isn't. Even for such a rural state, I thought that was pretty funny.
Yeah, I’ve been taught that if you’re gonna crash into a moose, swerve to avoid cause they’ll crush you to death
Not a single fck was given in that day by that moose.
When you’re that big, fucks give you.
he's just vibin
That’s a fail considering it’s mating season. His goal was to be giving fucks
Nice rack!
When I was in Salt Lake City the advice I got was if you see a baby anything get the hell out of there cause mama is right around the corner. Even male bears are likely to leave you alone if you don’t get close to their food. Lady bears not so much!
The first time my gf(now wife) saw her first moose, she said “they are real?!”. I tease her every now and then 😜
This along with the American Bison are the most gorgeous animals in North America
And, apart from humans and bees/wasps, also the most deadly.
The Grizzly would like to have a chat with ya.... Also, how do you mention bees/wasps without mosquitos? The mosquito has killed millions, way more than man.
Not in North America. You are absolutely right that mosquito’s kill thousands every year…but principally in Africa and South America. Grizzlies are dangerous, but I think Moose edge them out on the whole
How does an animal like that with such large antlers not get tangled in the brush all the time. Especially with all those trees growing so close together.
They tilt their head back and run through the woods and use their antlers like a snowplow. And weighing 1000+ lbs, there’s not much that can stop them.
Seeing one of those beasts first hand I can say that the video doesn't give anyone who hasn't seen one of them first hand the ability to comprehend just how large that bull is. In or out of season, they are nothing to play with. But this is Reddit after all, so I'm sure there is some vid floating around of some idiot trying to pull its tail.
Ro bad they can't be domesticated. One hell of a mount to ride into battle on.
Am I the only who thinks the moose “tipped his hat” at the dude ?😂
When I was a kid, an older family member lived in a place with a yard that backed up to a fence, with woods behind it and train tracks not too far from the fence. Well there was a moose who loved to come and hang his head over the fence for a little while, either before or after standing on the train tracks and making the train stop and wait for the moose until it decided to mosey off. I thought it was the funniest thing ever, and the adults had to warn me pretty hard to stay away from the moose. I still never really saw the danger. As an adult, it's very clear!
My sister was bitten by a moose. She was carving her name with a pen knife.
I would have bit her too if she tried carving her name into me with a pen knife
You mean the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge.
Of course, an Oslo dentist and a star of many Norwegian møvies.
Mind you, moose bites can be very nasty. Happy Cake Day!
Source: https://twitter.com/Unexplained/status/1429625579863740420?t=F2eQ_Z0QAKkOGnQ_c-dCUQ&s=19
What a beautiful majestic terrifying beast
Fuck That
A moose once bit my sister
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush.
Looks like the moose is loose
I've had many close encounters with moose and bears in Minnesota and Alaska. No shit in my pants moments. Still, very tense moments. My respect OP.
Mf just stepped out of the way of a very hairy semi-truck
Forbidden Rodeo Ride
Not very amooseing
That moose knew he was there, just gave no shits.
After reading hatchet I can agree that this is the appropriate thing to do
Smart…if threatened…a bull moose will stop a person to death without thinking twice.
[Slowly pulls out air horn]
What magnificence and grace
Family member lived in Banff, Alberta for a long time. One Spring some guys from NYC showed up for a x-country ski trip into the back country. They'd hit the outfitters in Calgary and bought "all the best gear." Everyone told them, "Get a guide. There are some really great professional guides in town and you're nuts to go out there without one." They weren't having it. So off they go on their own and it was a couple of days later at the most that one of them came back to town with nothing left but the clothes he was wearing. They'd come upon a moose standing in the middle of the trail. It didn't move when they told it to so his friend skied up to it and poked it with a ski pole. It stomped him into mush on the trail and the survivor barely got away himself. The wardens from Parcs Canada went out and brought what was left of the guy back in trash bags.
"Yea, mothafucka. You better hide."
Moose would have tracked me by smell alone 🍑💨