Moose Safety
So, What’s the Moose Protocol?
A night in the woods with seven moose and the facts we wish we’d known
After requesting a backcountry permit at Glacier National Park, my boyfriend and I were ushered into a room with a small TV. A video with the production value of a high school project scripted by Wikipedia appeared on the screen. We watched as we were provided with all the knowledge we needed to survive in the wilderness: namely how to survive a bear encounter. With the enthusiasm of camp counsellors, three park rangers walked us through every step after sighting a bear. (1) Is it a black bear or a grizzly? (2) group up and look big (3) don’t run even if they charge — could be a fake! (4) wield your sword of the outdoors: bear spray (5) quote “if the grizzly bear starts to eat you, go to any measures to protect yourself”. The screen turned to black. We clutched our bear spray tightly as we walked out of the ranger station.
Our hike to Upper Two Medicine Lake began with some musical accompaniment — my boyfriend decided that a harmonica would ward off all man-eating bears. To calm ourselves down, we started to talk about all the positive wildlife encounters we’d had so far on our road trip from Nashville, remembering with fondness the buffalo that grazed in the field by our campsite one night, the black bear we drove by in our thick steel car, the mountain goats that stood on the hills around us at Badlands, and the elk that we always thought looked like moose — — where are all the moose?! I started to chant, “Here moosey! Here moosey, moosey!” We had to make noise to ward off the scary bears anyway, I thought, not holding back my obnoxiousness. Only three minutes later, I spotted a moose far off in the field bellow us. What luck! Fifteen minutes later, we were at our campsite, where our luck had multiplied.
Only 30 meters away from the fire ring, stood two huge bull moose. Now, I didn’t know much about moose, but I did know they were big and territorial. Another pair of hikers, Steph and Scott, were cooking their dinner, seemingly unfazed, so we decided to act normally, too. We went to set up our tent, hoping the moose would move. Right on the second campsite, stood a third moose. It picked up its head and turned its large antlers to face us. My heart skipped. Do we (2) group up and look big? What happens if they (3) charge? Does (4) bear spray work on moose? We decided to retreat slowly back to the cooking area. At this point, it was 7 PM and the sun was almost fully set. There wasn’t going to be enough sunlight for us to safely hike all the way back to our car, but we were obviously on the moose’s territory. We were stuck, four humans to three 1000lb moose. Any time we went toward the second site, the third moose huffed at us — is huffing bad? — so we decided to set up our tent on the same plot as the other couple. However, it took several tries to set it up, as each time we made too much movement we got another huff. At one point, all four of us had retreated to the lake, the back of our heals touching the water and a pair of yellow eyes staring at us from ten meters away. Do moose swim?
We barely got any sleep that night. I only finally dozed off once I had reassured myself that they’d all be gone in the morning and put in some earplugs. However, once again, our [bad]luck had multiplied. With the sunrise came four more moose to our campsite, one of which was a female. I woke up to the sound of hooves and huffs. We sat up straight for an hour, quivering at the thought that they would charge our tent. My boyfriend started shifting around because his legs were falling asleep — huff. We had to get out of there.
We slipped on our shoes and popped out of the tent. The plan was to calmly walk past the moose five meters in front of us and then run to get a ranger, leaving our stuff behind.
When we got to the kitchen area, we found the other couple, sitting in the sun watching a couple moose brawl with each other. “We are going to run and get a ranger!” I exclaimed.
“They seem gentle,” Scott cajoled.
“I got some great videos of them walking around your tent,” Steph added.
They had had a completely different reaction than us. Instead of fear, they responded with awe. We joined them in the sunlight. Forty minutes later, the female moose frolicked away and her six male suitors followed. We stretched our legs by gathering huckleberries from the bushes behind us to add to our morning oatmeal.
The whole hike back I wondered which of us had responded properly. I felt ridiculous about how scared my boyfriend and I had been. Everything turned out fine, right? But it didn’t feel fine. I felt the need to warn the next group. Once off the trail, we immediately drove to the nearest ranger station. “There were moose all around our site at Upper Two Medicine Lake!” I exclaimed. The ranger seemed unperturbed. I went on to explain the details: the huffing, the quantity, and the proximity. The ranger said he would report it. Somewhat appeased, I then needed answers: “So, what do you do if you see a moose?” The ranger looked around the walls of the office covered in “Black or grizzly bear?” trivia, “uhhh …”
Since the bear-obsessed ranger and backcountry video failed me, I decided to do some research of my own. About 50% of bear “what to do’s” apply to moose:
Like bears:
- Keep your distance — at least 50 feet for moose.¹
- Yes, bear spray works on moose!³
- Moose can bluff charge; though, you should run anyway (explained further in next section).¹
- If you are knocked to the ground, play dead, curling up in a ball to protect your vital organs.²
Unlike bears:
- Don’t be threatening and make noise; rather, NPS’s site says to talk to the moose softly — “hey moosey, moosey” — and walk away slowly.²
- If a moose charges, it is okay to run. RUN! And get behind a tree. Unlike bears, they will generally not chase you.²
- Signs of aggression: laid back ears, hair raised on its hump (“hackle”), stomping feet, and grunting.¹
- Don’t give them a muffin. Food makes them aggressive.¹
Even if I was equipped with these eight bullet points of moose knowledge, I still don’t know what I would’ve done. Yes, we got some huffs but no stomps. It was the uncertain temperaments of three moose versus a night hike. If I encounter moose again, there will still be uncertainty. That is the beautifully terrifying part of nature.
Next time, I’ll get out of my tent sooner and sit in the sun — with my running shoes on.
