Huckleberries Online

Gannon: Moose Win Road Encounters

Posted by DFO

Feb. 10, 2009 11:53 a.m. • 17 comments

Of all wildlife/vehicle encounters, moose are generally the most dangerous. In part it’s because their weight makes for a massive obstacle to hit at any speed, but in part it’s also their size—those gangly legs are generally the part that gets hit by the average car, causing the moose to be flipped into the vehicle. Which is exactly what happened to Adam. The moose’s legs hit his car on the right front fender, causing her body to crash into the windshield, roll over the top of the car and then down the back. The moose died. So did the car. “I can buy another used car like this for less than what it would cost me to fix this one,” Adam explained as he looked over the crushed windows and dented body. Which is what he hopes to do as the car itself runs just fine, and he can use it for spare parts/Trish Gannon, River Journal. More here.

Question: Have you ever hit wildlife with your vehicle?

17 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Bob on February 10 at 12:12 p.m.
Besides grizzly and black bears, badgers, mountain lions, packs of Idaho gray wolves, coyotes, bats, the Upper Columbia Wolverine, moose scare me the most of the creatures in the woods.

And unlike the others, I’ve actually had a couple of very close encounters with moose:

1. mountain biking on Mt. Spokane - a mama and her two cub mooses. She glared at me and ran off with her cubs in tow.

2. riding my KTM dirt bike in the woods last summer came upon a big young male moose who was so not scared of me and my bike. I ended up chasing him up the logging road but he’d stop every so often and stare at me. He so wanted to kill me with his cloven hooves.

3. Huckleberry picking up on Mt Spokane. Fortunately I got me and the kid in my 6 inch lifted Blazer with dual cherry bombed exhaust and a cammed 350 and chased the bastard down the road. He had a radio collar on!
JeanC on February 10 at 12:15 p.m.
Luckily nothing bigger then a pheasant.
Cindy_H on February 10 at 12:24 p.m.
I just want to know why Bob is chasing moose.

I have much more difficulty with the wildlife I transport inside my car than any scary creatures that lurk outside it. I have thus far not actually hit any of my own personal wildlife with my car, but I have thrown a shoe at one of them, which is rather difficult and dangerous to do while driving. It didn’t make contact with the above mentioned wildlife, but by golly, it was very quiet for the rest of the ride.
Sisyphus on February 10 at 12:31 p.m.
My mom was a wee soul with some physical disability. She was a dead aim with shoe.

I have hit scads of wildlife with my vehicle although most of those circumstances its arguable who hit who.
Cindy_H on February 10 at 12:49 p.m.
“She was a dead aim with shoe.”

While driving? Dang, she was good!
Cindy_H on February 10 at 12:51 p.m.
“although most of those circumstances its arguable who hit who.”

This is what provokes shoe throwing.
Sisyphus on February 10 at 1:02 p.m.
“Dang, she was good!”—yeah Bush was lucky she kicked the bucket.
JeanieSpokane on February 10 at 1:03 p.m.
I haven’t thrown shoes at my in-house wildlife - but I did become skilled at tossing the phone that I was talking on across the room to whichever Wild One was being wilder than the other one, tapped him, and then reigned the phone back to my conversation. Peace would rule once again.
EagleKeeper44 on February 10 at 7:58 p.m.
Deer 3X

Turkey 1X

Owl 1X

Quail 2X

Skunk…1X (that was enough for a lifetime…..)

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.