Zealand Trail Moose Attack Warning

Excellent post, Cath. Thanks for the well-timed reminder that moose are wild animals. Let's hope that nobody gets hurt, human or moose. The best way to do both is to choose another trail for now, not crowd this one anymore than it already is.

Thanks, Cath.

Stressed, tired and hungry- yes, let's give him space. I would venture to guess that this stress is quickly eating away at his energy reserves.

I would certainly be for a temporary trail closure until he moves on.

Here is the link to New Hampshire Fish and Game regarding moose:

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife/Wildlife_profiles/profile_moose.htm

(Note the section on safe moose watching)


I think the most important things that the profile mentions is it's winter search for food by looking for the buds and new woody growth on certain plants/trees and it's behavior after someone crosses into it's personal space. In the winter time, most of the larger animals like the moose will take the path of least resistance just like we do. Bushwacking in winter isn't the most efficient for these bigger animals.

I spoke with a former NHFG Biologist a little while ago who said that the moose is probably feeling trapped with the humans around. (note Rocket's comments about a group coming the other way) He also said that they like to head to higher elevations in the winter so it it is not unusual for them to be in these areas.

Cath: Thank you for the informative post on 'Moose Talk' I was the recipient of the hair rising, lip licking "scolding" in BSP. When we ducked behind a huge boulder, we noticed her calf behind us. We froze and stayed DEAD SILENT until they moved on. Never want to feel that scared again!
Sandy

If you have ever watched a moose run in the woods (usually away from you) you will note that they pay little attention to minor brush, trees, etc. but just charge through. From the notes so far, it sounds like the moose was trying to use the trail as an escape route and just nudge obstacles aside rather than attacking people deliberately. If that's the case, getting off the trail so it can get by will work. Getting behind a big tree is even better

I have twice nearly been run over by moose and both times it was because they were running from something and either didn't see me or didn't think I was much of an obstacle One time I was walking a road at night at Baxter Park and saw the headlights of a car coming but they seemed to flicker, I soon decided it was because a moose was running ahead. Of course the moose could have easily dodged the car by ducking into the woods, but I guess it thought it could go faster on the road. So it was me that ducked into the woods and dodged them both

Op Ed:

I'm glad that people are taking this story seriously: these are large and dangerous creatures, capable of defending their turf against perceived threats.

I, too, have been very close to moose (a HUGE bull in November; a cow in June), and have great respect for their power and grace. I was lucky in both cases to enjoy calm interactions that were completely positive, but each held its lesson and I'd never turn my back on such a force.

We humans have returned this White Mountain sandbox to nature (trout and wolves being leading indicators) and ought to give the animal neighbors their space. Not everyone has the skill of a forestgnome or rocket21 (whose vetting processes came with photographic proof), and the best course for the untrained is a wide berth and a slow approach.

Great job to those who knew to back off! And thanks for the good info.

--M.

More than one moose in the area?

I was on the Zealand trail yesterday too. I was skiing in as the group with the little girl who was attacked was skiing out, and the other group with the dog, were skiing out and of course they told me about the incidents. The girl did seem fine, although she must have been shaken up. The dog seemed a bit skittish--must have been pretty traumatic to everyone.

I was skiing in alone, into that marshy area, and of course was quite alert and looking for signs of the moose. I made some noise approaching the area to make sure it would hear me if it was there. As it turned out, I did see a moose, across the marsh to the left of the zig zag bridge--peacefully eating leaves in the distance. But he was really quite big, and seeing Rocket's photo now, I think it must have been a different moose--a full grown one I think? I imagine that it's a popular moose hangout, but I don't know how many share one territory.

Glad to have those "moose safety" tips someone posted above, as I wasn't sure what I would do if the moose approached me...

ps I saw a mother moose and two calves while hiking in Montana over the summer. Surprisingly she didn't seem alarmed and we all just stayed a safe distance from each other....

Once, on another encounter............

I believe on my first (non winter) hike to the Bonds via Lincoln Woods & the Bondcliff trails, I came across a very P___ O__ hiker / camper who was ranting about his food being stolen by a Bear. His camp was right next to a stream & the Bondcliff trail. His last statement to me was something like
they need to do something about this I stated, if the bears can't live here in the Pemi wilderness, where can they live.....

I could be wrong, but I doubt the AMC would like to have the Zealand trail closed for the short term i.e. paying guests with reservations and all. As for day travelers, maybe notices at the Zealand Rd gate, and the summer Zealand parking / trailhead could possibly help. But I know that I would be really P___ O__ to learn that the animal was destroyed due to some inconvenience for hikers. Of course, I too, would have my heart in my throat if I was charged by this or another moose, and don't want to see someone else get hurt, but we can actually be taking that risk everytime we head off down a trail.

We are guests in their home ~

Cath said:

We are guests in their home ~

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Exactly.

moose?

BRAVO Cath!

The moose that is pictured is NOT the same moose we encountered. I would
recognize him anywhere.

Taconic said:

I've never encountered a moose on foot so I'm certainly no expert, but from what Les Stroud has said on many occasions, aggression from a bull isn't that unusual. Or sometimes even a cow.

I have a pretty healthy respect for them either way. Thanks for the warning.

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I don't need Les Stroud to tell me how dangerous a cow can be, Duffy and I were chased by one once. I'm really glad it was summer and I wasn't wearing snowshoes at the time. Nor did I have a dog on a leash that I would have to worry about.

Whoa!!!!

I don't think we need govt. agencies involved or trail closures, etc.

It's a moose! Let's enjoy the White Mtns., home turf of moose. If we go to where moose live, let's not freak out when we see moose.

With hunters and poachers, car collisions and ticks, we don't need to send the government out to killl a moose that's hanging out 10 miles into the woods! Stay home if it's a problem.

The girl was not "attacked" by the large vegetarian moose; she was in the way when the moose ran through his home turf, away from humans! She was on skiis and her father did not manage the situation and get her off the trail. The father didn't have the brains to deal with the situation. The little girl now has supreme bragging rights!!!

Give the moose a break. He was cornered by humans and he left the scene without killing anyone. What's the problem?!

I went out there today but I did not see any moose. Each party coming out spoke of the "moose attack". Gimme a break. This isn't a city park. We have 1000lb. moose and it's ok. We don't need any government action to sterilize the area for the wimpy.

Well I certainly was not advocating contacting Wildlife authorities to kill the moose, but to HELP it, if at all possible, perhaps by relocating it to quieter woods -- if at all possible--- and also to post signage alerting hikers (mainly thinking travellers to the hut who may not be frequent hikers) to the potential for encountering this moose and how to act appropriately.

Forestgnome, I certainly do not think any one here who suggested alerting the appropriate agencies wished any harm to come to the moose. Certainly you must be playing for shock value.

And a temporary trail closure to protect Wildlife?? I have no gripes when it comes to that!!!

We are, as was wisely pointed out, guests in the wilderness -- guest in the homes of these animals.

I personally don't care if I EVER see wildlife (and consider it a special "gift" when I do)..., in fact, I'd rather not encounter them-- I'm happy with the knowldedge that they ARE there and protected and the less encounters they have with humans, be it researchers, photographers, or hikers, the better off they are.

Just my 0.02. Others are welcome to disagree.

Whoa is right. But I understood the idea to be that the govt. agency would protect the moose from people crowding in to see it, not protect people from the "vicious" moose. We don't need a govt. agency for that; plain old common sense would suggest that people just leave the moose alone. Rocket already posted a picture; that's what there is (or was) to see.

I'm sure some of those agencies rely on reports from citizens for their data sets -- and I'm sure some of that data is necessary for longterm maintenance of wilderness areas for wild things first, and people second.

As much as I'd hate to see the wilderness "sterilized for the wimpy" (and I don't think temporary measures to keep people away from a stressed moose falls in to that category --sterilization is somewhat extreme), unfortunately, there are many people using the wilderness that are at a less experienced end of the learning curve -- educating them, in the grand scheme of things, is part of wilderness protection.

Off the soapbox.

forestgnome said:

The girl was not "attacked" by the large vegetarian moose; she was in the way when the moose ran through his home turf, away from humans! She was on skiis and her father did not manage the situation and get her off the trail. The father didn't have the brains to deal with the situation. The little girl now has supreme bragging rights!!!

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This is good to know. I know enough to get Alex (and myself) off the trail and behind a large tree/boulder if possible, should a moose come running our way. I was under the impression the moose purposefully ran at the girl.

Did the father have time to get her off the trail, I wonder? Did he have any time to react before it happened?

Bottom line is that I'm glad no one was injured. The forest is definitely home to the moose and we are just visitors in their territory. Best we can do is to understand how to optimally handle that kind of situation should it arise.

TrishandAlex said:

This is good to know. I know enough to get Alex (and myself) off the trail and behind a large tree/boulder if possible, should a moose come running our way. I was under the impression the moose purposefully ran at the girl.

Did the father have time to get her off the trail, I wonder? Did he have any time to react before it happened?

Bottom line is that I'm glad no one was injured. The forest is definitely home to the moose and we are just visitors in their territory. Best we can do is to understand how to optimally handle that kind of situation should it arise.

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Some clarifications...

First of all, someone mentioned me in the same sentence as forestgnome, in terms of moose experience. Heck no! If I can learn half of what forestgnome has learned about moose in the next 50 years, I will feel lucky.

Secondly, two more photos...a photo of the moose when we first encountered him, as the photo I posted yesterday makes him look smaller than he really is:


As you can see, he was showing the signs mentioned in Cath's great post (fur up, and he was licking his lips), but we were at a safe distance at this point and spent a good two minutes hanging out with him before he got bored with us and continued down the trail.

And, in case you're wondering, here's what it looks like when a moose is starting to charge at you:


We had slowed down when we saw him at a complete stop. Once I saw him turn and start to look at us, I knew we might have an issue. He started to walk toward us (at which point we worked our way backward and off the trail...I committed a cardinal sin and had my back to him for a second or two, but I knew that if I tried to walk backward in snowshoes, I'd have the potential of tripping and falling over). His pace increased from a walk to a jog, and then to a run in perhaps a 2 second (one one thousand, two) count. I knew to get out of his line of sight and to put a tree between he and I.

In hindsight, I'm very glad the trail wasn't well packed. Had we been barebooting, it would have been much more difficult to get off the trail and behind a tree due to postholing. Being on snowshoes allowed us all to get a good 5 feet off the trail and out of the way in very little time.

To clarify about the situation with the girl who was trampled (we warned everyone about the aggressive moose, so they all knew)...I believe the moose was continuing northbound on the trail when he encounted three adult hikers. I believe he then looked back and saw the young girl (circa 10 years old I believe) approaching, and went for the path of least resistance. From what I was told by a chaperone at the hut (when he was told the name of the girl who was trampled), she is the type of kid who skis out in front of the rest of the group, etc. We passed at least a dozen kids on nordic skis that morning, along with a handful of chaperones sprinkled throughout (and a few more were still at the hut when we arrived).

One more postscript - I've observed over the past two years that it's very deceiving when you see a moose run. Due to their size, build, and stride, it visually looks like they're not going that fast when in fact they are flying! This may in part explain why people were struggling (or for that matter, simply not) getting out of the way - it visually appears that the moose is walking, but depth perception is key - he's approaching very quickly!

rocket21 said:

Some clarifications...

To clarify about the situation with the girl who was trampled (we warned everyone about the aggressive moose, so they all knew)...I believe the moose was continuing northbound on the trail when he encounted three adult hikers. I believe he then looked back and saw the young girl (circa 10 years old I believe) approaching, and went for the path of least resistance. From what I was told by a chaperone at the hut (when he was told the name of the girl who was trampled), she is the type of kid who skis out in front of the rest of the group, etc. We passed at least a dozen kids on nordic skis that morning, along with a handful of chaperones sprinkled throughout (and a few more were still at the hut when we arrived).

One more postscript - I've observed over the past two years that it's very deceiving when you see a moose run. Due to their size, build, and stride, it visually looks like they're not going that fast when in fact they are flying! This may in part explain why people were struggling (or for that matter, simply not) getting out of the way - it visually appears that the moose is walking, but depth perception is key - he's approaching very quickly!

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This is very close to what I was thinking today. Can't fault an animal for choosing the path of least resistance. We would do the same as humans, and did, if you ever played "Red Rover". That does not, however, minimize the potential of danger to a young person.

It is very hard to gauge what movement you must make when faced with an animal of whose proportions we rarely encounter. With no frame of past reference or experience as towards its size and speed, as well as manuverability coming at us, its hard in a couple of seconds to decide what to do. And that lack of knowledge will cause the body to do, or not do, some awkward things in an attempt to flee. That 2nd string linebacker who only runs as a wedgebuster during kickoffs who weighs 250-275 lbs. doesn't look like he can move like he does. If you've never returned against him as a ballcarrier you don't know what to expect until he knocks your block off. Then you have a frame of reference.

On a foggy fall morning in 1981 I had my first encounter with a big bull that was almost nose to snout as I walked down the driveway to the bus stop. He had to know I was there but made no attempt to let me know that until he stomped the ground. I thought I was a dead man (kid). There was nothing to do but not do anything. He even had a more earthy smell as opposed to a musky deer. Anyway he passed on my left side looking at me until he was past about a line of my shoulders and continued up the driveway toward our cabin without even a glance behind until he was gone. Still makes the blood race. What more could a person do, or not do? That's just the way of it at the time. What an experience. I wonder if I would feel the same at the age I am today.

rocket21, your picture posted today clearly shows more of the "don't even try it" posture. The ears, back hair, stance, drooped snout are quite indicative in a lot of animal breeds, that's there's trouble ahead. I remember in Paul Doherty's book-Smoke From a Thousand Campfires, he related one game wardens experience of coming across a bull and cow "doin' it" during the season. Paul asked him what was the bull's reaction to an uninvited visitor, he said the bull looked at him with an expression that said "if you don't get out of here, you're next." Which sufficed for him to leave the scene. Animals are never short of a means to communicate with us when they feel threatened.

All being said, thankful no one was hurt, and welcome to the experience of life in the Great State of New Hampshire.

Fisher Cat said:

rocket21, your picture posted today clearly shows more of the "don't even try it" posture.

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I should have taken a photo of us hikers at the same time - the "hey, get out of our way, we still have just under 20 miles to go and limited daylight!"

Thanks for initiating this thread, Rocket21. We will be careful this Saturday, as we usually are, on our Pemi ski-through. I have only had three close encounters with moose while hiking over the years: 1) long ago in Maine while doing exploration geology, a large bull moose spied us from the opposite side of a small pond and sauntered all the way around the pond to tree us (I think that this encounter was power trip thing, as after an hour or so, he walked away), 2) in the early '90s on a solo snowshoe from 13 Falls to Galehead hut on the Twinbrook Trail, a large bull would not allow me to take the most direct route (i.e., the trail) over "his" ridge, so I had to detour bushwhack around the ridge (my return was via Franconia Brook Trail after a traverse of Galehead and Garfield, which was my original plan, but reinforced by the moose), and 3) on our Weeks traverse three weeks ago, a smaller moose (female?) yielded the summit of Middle Weeks to our group as we stumbled by (she probably felt sorry for us, given the late hour). I have seen many more moose from the inside of a motor vehicle, but these experiences were not nearly as magical.