The moose are mating

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Shortly after we moved here last year, we could hear a moose and had been told they regularly hang around in our yard in the fall. We hadn't seen it (or them) though. This year, on two occasions so far, the kids have come running into the house at dusk frightened by snorting noises. Hubby said it was probably just a deer. The other day a man pulled into our yard, jumped out and told me I should put my horses in because there was a moose in our yard. Now, I've seen moose before, but I was not prepared to see the huge bull with a full rack that was in our field staring at our horses! He was impressive! Hubby was going to get a gun, expecting the moose would find someplace else to hang out just from hearing shots fired. So he called his dad to get his gun, but who told him that was nonsense, moose won't cause any trouble for us and we were just paranoid. Now we know better! Front page article in the Bangor News this morning was about a man who was chased into his garage by a female moose who was running from a male. She was bashing in the garage door, while the male tore siding off their house, chased their horses out of the pasture, went to the nieghbor's and busted in their windshield, and urinated in their car! Poor female passed out in front of their barn from exhaustion and had to be nudged to finally get up and move on. Moral of the story-during mating season bring the horses in when moose are around and stay inside yourself!

-- Epona (staceyb@myway.com), October 05, 2000

Answers

Where are you guys? I'm down south a little to the west of Portland. Forget gunfire scaring them. A couple of years ago, I was at the gun club, and went down to the rifle range to scavenge some 9mm empty brass after the "Feds" had shot their full-automatic weapons. (WHY can't WE have automatic weapons?) Anyway, 10 minutes after 2 or 3 thousands rounds had been fired in 30 minutes, I went to collect the brass (which our gov't throws away - where's the recycling?) and after about 5 minutes I was challenged by a fairly large bull moose. I left, thinking, "If he wants to reload this stuff - I will say yessir, yessir, 3 bags full", and help him any way he wants. Point is: Never screw with a bull moose unless you are well armed and want some really really tasty inexpensive meat for the winter. Would also be adviseable to have a permit and harvest the meat during hunting season. But then, this is Maine, and I won't tell! Last I knew we weren't running out of moose, at least according to all the folks who lost relatives in moose-car collisions last year. And they are, after all, quite tasty. Sorry Vegans. GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), October 05, 2000.

Be Careful! They will attack you and their hooves can kill you. LIved in Alaska for 12 years total and you have to be more careful of the moose than you do of the bear. They will also trample you dogs.

Love to watch them, but I know to keep my distance. I always got so irritated with the tourist who would stop to take pictures of the moose and be only a couple hundred yards from a cow with a calf! Duh!

-- Tammy (gregandtammy@interbel.net), October 05, 2000.


It wasn't just the New Canada incident that occurred in Maine yesterday, Epona. The Lewiston Sun Journal had a story about a man over near Norway who went out to check on his barking dog last evening at dusk. He was walking across the yard when the terrified dog passed him, running like h*ll for the house. A second later, a full-grown bull moose ran right over him, then kicked him around until he was able to roll away. Tooth knocked out, head lacerations, a hole in his side, and some broken bones. He's still in the hospital. It isn't bad enough that they try to kill us on the highways -- now they're coming into the front yard!

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), October 05, 2000.

We are in Plymouth, next to Newport. I knew moose would attack, but it's other people who tell me not to worry. I told a friend about our moose and her daughter butted in that moose don't hurt people. I don't know if she had told her daughter that so she wouldn't be afraid or if they really believe it, either way it's foolish. My kids are taught to be alert while outside, make noise when walking through the fields and woods, and never aproach an animal. We have apple trees that attract the bear, deer, moose and every other little critter. No way I'm taking that lightly! Our neighbor shot a raccoon this spring as it left our yard because it was acting rabid. I asked if we should report it because the authorities like to keep track of rabies, but my neighbor said, no, they'd give him more hell for having the gun and shooting it than they'd be concerned about the rabies. Of course I didn't report it, and the more I learn about gun laws and rights, the more glad I am that I didn't report it. I would hope that if we did have to kill an animal that threatened us, we wouldn't be tattled on! The whole gun rights issue is new to me and the more I learn about the restrictions, the more I appreciate those who fight for the right to own one and those that will go against the system to protect us. I'm considering learning how to use one to protect my kids from the wildlife. So far the news has also reported a guy who killed a coyote that chased his wife into their house and a guy who shot a gator(yup, a gator in Maine!?). Love the country, but it definately has it's hazards. Some free moose meat would be good!

-- Epona (staceyb@myway.com), October 05, 2000.

When one builds their house and life in the country full of wildlife one MUST expect to have dealings with them. If I or any member of my family is harmed by wildlife here it is MY FAULT not the animals fault for placing us in their world. They didn't ask us to trespass on their territory.

-- Debra (solid-dkn@msn.com), October 06, 2000.


Debra, While I would not kill an animal just for being on the land I call home(the reason for the gun was to fire blanks to discourage the moose from chasing our horses out), and I expect to have to interact with wildlife, I did not plant myself on this earth. Whether it be my creator or evolution, I was placed on this earth with equal rights as the animals. That is why I even fit into one of their catagories: mammal. Lions kill cubs when they take over a pride, deer fight over territory, as do all animals. Death and survival are facts of life. They invade your territory or you invade theirs. Shall I just offer up my children to the animals? Let's make it a yearly ritual, why don't we? No disrespect intended, but animal rights can be taken too far.

-- Epona (staceyb@myway.com), October 08, 2000.

Living in northern Maine, and rural, we expect to see moose, deer etc. We know enough, not to try to make contact with them. My supervisor hit a moose with her car, just a couple days ago. Nobody got hurt, and i'm glad for that, because not everybody is that lucky. About them getting into fences, yes they will walk through just about anything, and our fences are routinely broke from the outside in a few times a year. I know this old (now retired) farmer, who had a lot of trouble with a bullmoose chasing his cows, when it was mating season.Not only was that hard on his fences, and his cows were always loose, it was also hard for him to do anything about. Took about a year of complaining, before the gamewardens finally allowed him to shoot the thing . They make a big fuss about it, when they feel like it, but if it means to get out of bed in the middle of the night, then it isn't that important. The gamewarden refused to come to that accident-scene a couple days ago, even so, there's a pretty good chance that moose had some broken legs and went of into the woods that way.

-- karin morey (wind_crest@hotmail.com), October 08, 2000.

I am sorry if any animal anywhere or person for that matter ever tried to hurt my children they would be shot .We are not all created equall , god made us on top of the food chain not in the middle or the bottom. I do not go aroud killing for no reason but come on .

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), October 08, 2000.

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