I’ve been trying to post to the “Fun Facts” you made up thread, but have been having a hard time with a certain idea.
I saw a picture today of a bull moose near some people on a website, and thought “damn!, that’s a strong looking animal.”
So I thought I’d try and think up a post of some Native American tribe that would ride full grown bull moose into battle, their bow drawn, maybe decapitated heads hung from the moose’s beard.
But then I remember actually seeing a moose in the wild (cow with her calf) and remember how slow and gentle they seemed. Hell, I only realized them when I turned and saw them, then they slowly (and incredibly silently) walked off away from me.
I can picture said tribe coming upon an early English settlement, the settlers seeing the men on moose and running in fear, then the tribes men shrugging their shoulders and getting off their moose and patting their rump and the moose slowly walking back into the woods.
The protagonist of the old post-apocalypse novel Hiero’s Journey rode a ferocious mutant moose. Quite a few bad guys got splattered by “plate sized hooves”.
Y’know, I never in my life thought I’d put “cute” and “moose” in the same sentance, except possibly alongside the word “not”, and followed by the word “run”, but Freudian Slit is right. So cute!
It’s much more likely if you see a moose during rut (Oct/Nov). During that time, bull moose are very easily agitated and will charge without provocation. People do get stomped.
Other times you can provoke a cow moose if the calves are nearby. I’ve had many moose encounters, but I always give them their space.
Moose are also agitated in the spring because they’re damned hungry. They are by far the most dangerous animal found in Alaska because they are common in urban areas and people are too stupid to avoid them.