Man Has Close Encounter With a Rutting Bull Moose

Occurred on September 24, 2024 / USA

Info from Licensor: "Story - At 8 am Tuesday morning I walked into a large swamp in Aroostook County with the intention of setting up a few game cameras and heard a cow moose in heat bellowing. She was surrounded by 3 bulls that were competing for her attention. The bull in the video heard me coming and decided to investigate thinking I was another bull. I took my phone out and started filming his approach. I watched him get closer, and closer…

Before I knew it he was 3 feet standing there in front of me. I let him know that I was in fact not another bull and told him he was 'close enough.' Most moose that we have encountered are spooked by a human voice. Unfortunately, in his rut-crazed mind, I was still another bull trying to take his cow. You can see in the video I tell him 'no' as he starts to swing his head to charge me but it was already too late at that point. It bought me a couple seconds to back up before he went for it.

I turned my back to him and reached my left hand back to try and block his antler from hitting me. He knocked me to the ground and I slid 6 about feet back from the impact. Luckily, my yelling 'HEY, HEY, HEY!' Was enough to make him change his mind and stop coming after me. He took off the other direction after the initial impact. I was on my hands and knees at this point and completely defenseless. Once I was able to gather myself and check for injuries, I slowly crept out of the swamp. I only sustained a few bumps and bruises to my legs, back, and arms. Could have been much worse."