My lovely wife and I experienced a close encounter of the moose kind. We were heading home, around 9 p. m.. A rather large moose decided to bolt across the road right in front of the truck. My wife screamed and I stood on the brakes. Missed it by only a few feet. What a rush!
Most parts of the country have to worry about deer collisions. That’s bad enough, but a moose commonly gets over a half ton. That will bring most cars to a sudden stop. Worse yet, moose are tall. Cars knock the legs out from under them and then the body of the moose crashes through the windshield or crushes the roof.
Many animals’s eyes reflect the light from a vehicle’s headlights. No such luck with moose. Their eyes don’t really shine in the dark. Combine that with dark fur, and they are tough to see.
Then there is the problem of their tiny spore like brains. Moose are dumb. Maybe they were smart enough in the days before cars. Today, their cognitive power just isn’t up to the task. To make matters worse, the poor animals can get a brain worm that destroys what little mental power they have. That’s when they’ll do strange stuff like come into town and climb on top of cars. That’s no exaggeration.
My wife and are extremely vigilant when traveling through moose country. However, my best defense is driving like a little old lady. The speed limit where I saw the moose is 40 mph. I was only doing 25. Had I been going even 10 mph faster, that moose would have met the bumper.
I’m counting my blessing on making it home safely.
-Sixbears
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yup, they be ever bit as bad as a horse to hit.
ReplyDeleteAin't nuthin wrong with caution and driving. Person is likely to live a whole lot longer.
Is that brain worm catching? I know a few people who. . . .
ReplyDeleteautos hitting moose?
ReplyDeletesome hunt moose that way...
anyhow, like deer, can make your little gas saver into a junkpile fast...
WILDFLOWER
Back in the late 60's / early 70's when I was a young kid, we used to drive out to our ranch, which was located in open range country. Few fences along the roadsides, what kept the cattle close were pipe cattle guards that crossed the road. I remember several times we had to slow down FAST when some Brangus and other dark hided animals were in the road. Once or twice, I was sleeping in that space just below the rear window but above the trunk and would be launched to bounce off the rear seat (or its occupants, lol).
ReplyDeleteGood Times! :^)
I've had close encounters of the bovine kind. At night. Towing a 10,000 pound trailer. The thought of having a gooseneck embedded in my skull is not a pleasant one, nor is having a cow in my lap...
ReplyDeleteI have the greatest respect for Moose, whatever the condition of their brain.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, while hiking Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, we heard a snorting sound, then smelled what we soon met: a huge bull moose.
It stepped out from the woods, taking up the entire width of the trail and looking down on us from on high. Talk about ready to crap our pants!
Stepping backward, while staring down a moose with a 50# pack on your back, is no treat. About eight paces backward, a female moose stepped into the trail behind the bull moose.
As a light rain fell, the stare down continued for what seemed an eternity. As suddenly as they appeared, the moose entered the woods and crashed through the landscape. Within a couple feet of their journey we could not see them but had learned to respect them.
I've had a lot of odd moose encounters over the years. Twice they've swum completely under my canoe and come up the other side. Very strange to look down in the water and see a full grown moose swimming past.
ReplyDelete