If you didn’t grow up around moose, you might not have the healthy fear of them that many outdoorsy Northerners do. Moose are one of North America’s largest land mammals, and they’re not afraid to charge if they feel threatened. With males reaching an average of six feet tall and weighing up to 1,400 pounds, these animals have been known to seriously injure hikers who get in their way.
Still not convinced that moose are a force to be reckoned with? The moose charge video below might just change your mind. Taken by outdoorsman Jeremiah David Bigelow during a snowmobiling trip through Palisades, Idaho, on March 2, the frightening clip depicts a snowmobiler’s narrow escape from an oncoming moose.
[mm-video type=video id=01gtz6a4p7y5sqa306n0 playlist_id=01g3929z3xrgcfk7jg player_id=01g391txpn1ae492vp image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gtz6a4p7y5sqa306n0/01gtz6a4p7y5sqa306n0-f1d498fbbda267914deca50d68e475ef.jpg]
Video by Jeremiah David Bigelow via Storyful
In a Facebook post, Bigelow described the encounter. “This humbled us,” Bigelow wrote. “We were riding and my brother got ahead of me. A moose came onto the trail and got between us. I had my boy and two other guys with me. We stopped. Moments before I started filming, the moose charged us but stopped 20’ from me.”
Bigelow’s brother, shown in the video, manages to escape the charging moose by jumping off his snowmobile. His original plan, Bigelow wrote, was to quickly escape via snowmobile. Unfortunately, the vehicle’s engine died, leaving the man no choice but to leap away from the fast-approaching animal.
“Lesson learned … brother should have continued on and given it more space. We should have gotten our sleds turned around as well,” Bigelow wrote. “Bad scenario with an okay outcome. Moose was unharmed and I saw it later walking just fine. Scary.”
While aggressive moose encounters can be scary, there are safety tips that can help you avoid them. First, always give moose their space. Definitely don’t try to feed them. If you end up in close quarters with a moose, do everything you can to put distance between you and the animal. Watch out for warnings that the moose is growing aggressive. And if a moose charges at you? Run.