Messing with the Moose!

Aug 11, 2007 19 Replies

For those of you who don't know, I'm delivering papers on a "motor route" while waiting for my next Middle Class Welfare job. I do this in a rural area with a few dirt roads.



One particular dirt road is so windy and twisty that it's a 3rd gear ride for 2/3 of the road, then it straightens out and is smooth enough for



40~45 MPH.

So, this morning, I clear the last corner, shift into forth, press the gas and.....GAAAAH! WTF?!?! It's a MOOSE!!!! Lock 'em up and slide to a halt in a cloud of dust...



Bulwinkle looks at me and starts loping down the road slowly. I start to move forward, and the faster I go the faster the moose goes. We get up to



25 MPH, and I decide Bullwinkle either has to move his @$$ faster or get the helk off the road. So, I toot the horn.

He halts for a millisecond, glances over his shoulder at me and begins to trot again. Another 30 feet, I hit the horn again. He locks 'em up for a second, gives me another look, and starts trotting again. Hit the horn again, this time he stops for a couple seconds and gives me a look...



Fifty more feet, I blast the horn again. Bullwinkle comes to a stop, turns halfway around and gives me a look that says, "You hit that friggin' thing one more time, and I'll shove it somewhere the sun don't shine!"



I decided enough was enough, and so did he, because about 10 more feet down the road there was a two-track, he started down it, and I let him get a ways before I ventured past...


This don't look like fun...

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Are you sure that you weren't doing some particularly bad s*it?

That's more likely.

No, he was thinking, "Hey, 'roku, watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!"

Again????

That trick NEVER works!

1985-1986 I lived at Loring AFB, Caribou, ME. We had moose everywhere, even on the base. There were traffic signs on the roads "Moose is Loose". The B-52s would abort takeoffs and landings all the time because moose would get out on the flightline. I have seen many vehicles like the ones you linked to and I must say the moose is rather small compared to the bull mooses we had to avoid all the time. Most of the time the vehicle gets flattened because it takes out the moose's legs and the animal just rolls over the top of the car and hardly gets injured. You really can't believe how huge they are until you stand near one. Despite their size they are rather docile creatures unless provoked.

I have had my run-ins with moose also. One particular night I was leaving work after the night shift and saw some shadows over by my car. It turned out to be a mother and calf just hanging out in the parking lot. My co-worker and I got brave enough to approach them and finally got in our cars. We chased them back into the woods and since I had a Subaru station wagon back then I got further into the woods than he did. That's when I saw Daddy Moose. It didn't take long for me to back out of the woods the entire way and question where my sanity had gone that night!

They also used to have lotteries for hunters to get a moose hunting license. Let me tell you, there is a lot of meat left over after the animal is butchered. I'll also tell you from first-hand experience you can easily force an entire dormitory to vacate the premise if you try to cook moose meat in a microwave after a night of extended parting.

This time for sure! Nothing up my sleeve...PRESTO!

You mean for messing with it, or you mean it wasn't there?

It was there...

It was getting mad!

I was just pulling your leg, Hachi!

,. ,_> `. ,'; ,-`' `' '`'._ ,,-) ---._ | .---''`-),. ,' `. \ ; / _,' `, ,--' ____ \ ' ,' ___ `-, _> /--. `-. .-'.--\ \__ '-, ( `. `.,`~ \~'-. ,' ,' ) _\ _> \ \ ,' ') ) `. / / _ / ; (\/( ' )\/) ; `-. _< ,-' `. \`-^^^-'/ ,' \ _< `-, ,' `. `"""""' ,' `-. ,' , `-.

I gotta get me a different hat!

(I know...but it was STILL getting mad!)

This sign says all!

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Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail > For those of you who don't know, I'm delivering papers on a "motor route"

Yeah, ain't that the truth!

Moose = *BIG* horse - Plus horns! :)

(And you don't want to hit EITHER... Every report I've ever heard says that for both of them, the typical thing is "you chop the legs out from under them, and then they land on the roof and basically smash the passenger compartment flat")

Yeah. I was trying to 'nudge' him along, but I was also keeping my distance!!!

Or they come through the windshield and visit you in person.

One of my professors, lo these many years ago, told us how a moose cured him of driving with the gas pedal flat on the floor in the custom of his native Montana. The cure involved several weeks in the hospital; hitting a moose at any speed ain't for sissies, but he'd been doing about 85 mph. He was a notably patient and prudent driver by the time I met him.

An online state of Maine fact sheet on moose safety --

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suggests that they sometimes will even charge an automobile.(Seldom will you find any allegation that moose get ahead in life onsheer brain power, but their size and reputation for only semi-predictable irascibility seem to make up for it.)

Happy motoring,

--Joe

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-- suggests that they sometimes will even charge an automobile. (Seldom> will you find any allegation that moose get ahead in life on sheer brain> power, but their size and reputation for only semi- predictable> irascibility seem to make up for it.)>

This is about 40 miles from my home, and is a MUCH more 'urban' area than where I ran into the moose. It's still Central Mass, so it's not anywhere near as populous as Boston.

I remembered the story, but had forgotten how close to home it was:

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More pics here:

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This does NOT look like fun!!

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>

I had a Mazda put put going out to a late night BBQ in the Rockies and had one come after 'me' one night. He was standing by the side of the road and took offense at my headlights I guess...

I know train engineers and they have had moose charge the engine and knock it off the track more than once....

We also were in Newfoundland in our all fiberglass Jeep CJ7 with clear plastic doors and got stopped by 5 moose on the road. 3 young ones were running circles around my CJ7 with the two big ones watching. My wife was saying to me: They are just playing with us right, they are just playing with us right, after the third or fourth time I said: I sure hope so... They were....

My brother and sister in law hit one with their Volvo 240 wagon. It dented the grill and hood and rippled the roof as they went right under it. Didn't even blow out the glass....

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile... Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06
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(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

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