My Encounter With A Mother Moose

This post was first published on my personal website in mid 2008.

I went on a hike today in area not far from my home. The sun was setting in the distance and it was really quite beautiful. The trail was empty, except for a few small patches of snow and the sporadic footprint of a giant moose.

About halfway up the mountain I heard what sounded like a car crashing through the trees. Normally, this would have scared the dickens out of me, but I’ve experienced this sound a number of times since moving to Park City in early 2006. It was a moose!

Up the hill, about 40 feet away from me were two adolescent moose. They had obviously spotted me and were doing their best to get some distance.

The first one easily broke through the branches that surrounded it and quickly leaped up the hillside and out of view. But the second moose didn’t have such luck. It got stuck in a thick mess of sticks and branches and for a moment I thought it might have injured itself during its getaway. But it eventually broke itself free and headed up the hill after its sister.

It was then that I pulled out my camera, hoping to get a photo of these two young moose before they left my sight. It was then that I looked to the left and saw a giant creature running down the trail above me. It was a mother moose… and she was hauling ass!

The moose stops in her tracks and looks right at me.

As soon as she got to the spot where the second adolescent moose had gotten trapped in the branches, she stopped and looked right at me. I held up my camera and took two quick snapshots. I tried to let her know that I wasn’t going to hurt her or her kids, but it was too late! She twisted her head to the side and then came charging through the brush right at me!

This photo was taken less than a second before she charged right at me!

What did I do?

I did what any reasonable person would have done in this situation. I ran… and I ran fast!

I ran down the trail in the direction I had come with the sound of a giant moose flying up behind me. At its closest, the mother moose was probably no more than 25 feet away.

I ran and I ran. I ran about 100 feet down the trail before I turned around to look and see whether the moose was still following me. It wasn’t.

I accidently took this photo of my leg while I was running from the moose!

The mother moose had stopped its charge just past the place where I was standing when I took the photos. It stood there for a moment as it looked at me… and then it meandered back up the hill towards its kids.

I had planned to do more hiking today, but with three large moose blocking the trail and one aggressive charge already under my belt for the day, I decided to call off my hike. I quickly turned around and made my way back home – fearing every little bird, groundhog, and mouse that moved in the underbrush.