Moose encounters

My lovely wife and I were driving through the White Mountains late in the evening. Two young moose ran out into the road. I expect to see moose when driving so I stopped in plenty of time.

Normally what happens is that I stop the car, put the blinkers on and wait them out. Honking the car horn spooks them. They are unpredictable enough as it is so I normally let them slowly wander off.

I was stopped in the northbound lane and another car stopped in the southbound. Both moose were between us. The other car decided not to wait and leaned on his horn. One of the moose spooked really badly and ran directly at my car. I kept expecting him to turn aside but he had that “deer in the headlights” look and came right at me in my Nissan Versa.

Having no other choice I honked my horn. The moose freaked out, flipped over on its hind legs, fell down, then bolted across the road. As soon as he did the idiot driver sped past.

At that point there was a moose on each side of the road. I expected one of them to eventually cross over. Sure enough, the second moose decided to join the one that freaked out and cut right in front of my car. Once they were both off in the woods I slowly crept past.

It was a slow drive the rest of the way home. Dealing with moose is serious business. They probably weighed almost as much as my car did. It's not unusual for people to get hurt or killed in moose collisions. I'm glad nobody got hurt in this encounter, including the poor moose.

-Sixbears