Don’t Hit a Moose on the Gunflint Trail or Anywhere

     I get really upset when a moose gets hit and killed by a vehicle on the Gunflint Trail.  It really bothers me when any animal gets killed by a vehicle actually.  I honk my horn at flocks of birds on the road, pause to let a grouse cross the road and say a quick prayer as a chipmunk or red squirrel attempts to dodge my tires.  Unfortunately sometimes hitting an animal, even a moose is unavoidable.

     The other evening I was driving home from Grand Marais with Abby in the car.  There was fresh fallen snow on the road and in the winter I drive slowly in my Subaru.  I was going less than 50 miles per hour when I came around a corner to see a moose laying in the middle of the road.  It stood up in a hurry as my anti-lock brakes worked hard in an attempt to stop the car.  The moose walked to the ditch on the right side of the road but then decided the left side of the road looked better just as I was almost at a complete stop. 

      Almost stopped my vehicle met the moose and like a wrestler’s two-legged take down my vehicle made the moose lose his footing and he stumbled up onto my hood and then down to the ground as I came to a complete stop.  He was up and gone in a blink of the eye without so much as a pause or limp. 

     I was so upset that I had hit the moose.  I was angry at him for making a poor decision and mad at my car for not stopping quicker.  I knew I hadn’t hit him hard or injured him but it still bothered me.  When I got home I couldn’t even find a scratch on my car.

     I was very lucky.  Most vehicle moose encounters result in some damage to the vehicle and to the moose.  I don’t know what I would have done if the moose hadn’t gotten up.  I can only imagine myself applying pressure to stop the bleeding or attempting to give mouth to muzzle CPR on the moose.