A huge debate is brewing about a man who, while snowmobiling out west with his son, shot a moose with a Glock after it attacked him.
At issue is whether the father prompted the attack by not being initially patient enough for the moose to mosey on off the trail. The video shows the father and son encountering the young moose, attempting to get it to move or leave, then moving forward a bit and it attacks, kicking the father in the chest.
The man reportedly has a heart condition, too. A moose is huge and has tremendous force when kicking with its hooves. After attacking the man the moose moves on but by this time the man has his gun in hand and is chambering a round. The moose turns back, facing them, and the father shoots it multiple times with his pistol.
Was the moose aggressive and defending its turf? Was the father in the clear to protect himself since a powerful, slashing moose hoof could severely injure or kill him?
What do you think? We’d like to hear your thoughts.
What is strange is when supposedly the young moose kicked him in the chest, how did he stay focused with the camera, and why did he approach it, that is the moose’s territory he is encroaching on, and seriously he was not charged, I think some one from the DNR should investigate this farther, this is why good naturalist and hunters get a bad rap, for the ignorance and stupidity of others,
The provocation was wrong on the part of the snow-mobiler, however, I don’t think there was ever any mal-intent here. The moose gave him no-choice after the charge and it seemed clear the moose was coming back to finish the job. It was just a cluster-F from the get go.
This guy is a piece of garbage and should be charged!!! That moose had every right to be on that piece of real estate too. Then he crowds it with the snow mobile. All he needed to do was sit and wait. And save your breath, I’m out there every season taking a few does and I wish more bucks, but I do it ethically. This guy is a straight up POS and will cost us all oppurtunities down the road. To be perfectly honest, this is the moron who will drive right into the worst crime areas with a confederate flag on his car at 1 am and claim self defense/stand your ground when a confrontation happens. He’s bad for all of us that own and use firearms
Was your snowmobile trip that important that you couldn’t take some time to give the moose a better chance to leave? You were in his territory! Rotten choice you made!
This is a classic example of a man who made the wrong choice. He provoked the moose by advancing toward it. Moose are very dangerous animals, and people should never approach a moose unless they are legally authorized to kill the moose as a game animal. This man could have turned his snow machine around and taken a different path to his destination. Instead, he chose to act like John Wayne and shoot an animal who was only acting in self defense. The moose was not the culprit here.
We all have to make choices in life. When it comes to protection we become the marked predator by some person putting value on the animals justification over the person involved no matter what.
That being said, if it were me I would have found another route to take, but…. based on what I have read just here, it is necessary to look beyond this incident and ask the question, “Has this moose been to close to humans previously to develop a disrespect and therefore this bad ass attitude has become very volatile towards all humans?”. We need to look into the past history and determine if there is a confrontational matter to disclose. This is impossible most of the time, but, none the less important.
From the gentleman’s perspective, we have to look at his past and ask the question, “What is your opinion on the wildlife you encounter, do you believe that they have a place in nature and do you respect them?”. He may have deterred other moose off in this fission and thus when the moose started away, continued on. There has to be a diligent effort in his past history as well to determine past conflicts, how they were handled ect., or if he in fact does have the proper respect from all points of view. We also need to look at the fact that he took the first beating and made efforts to deter the moose. That tells me that he had the proper mentality towards the moose and did have the proper respect else he would have already drawn his weapon upon the first step towards advancing a probable attack. With a family member present and a heart condition, the gentleman made the decision to defend after the first initial contact.
If we look at all the cause and effects based on this clip leading up to this incident I can’t really say that either is guilty of a crime. At the very most likely possibilities, that is all we can say. Should the gentleman have taken a different route? Possibly! Would the moose have attacked anyway? Possibly! Should he have stayed his advancement? Possibly! Would the moose continued on away from him or attacked? Possibly! Should he have not gone into protection mode (family member and heart condition) and allowed him to attack again? Possibly! Would the moose used the second advancement as a stronger threat and turn away or attack and possibly maiming or killing him? Possibly! How do we really know? Life is also precious even if you are not an animal and are protected by conservation laws!
Just from viewing this clip and reading the article with it and the comment that prompted this reply, there is no absolute facts to base guilt on either. What has happened is a severe misfortune to outdoorsmen/hunters and wildlife. Chalk it up as such, move on and hope something is gained mentally towards a better ability to cope with and make a safer outdoors experience. As far as the benefits of this, feed the needy with the perfectly good venison, give a warning to the gentleman and classes on how to better deal with wildlife and use this experience to better instruct others. Just a note that I have seen in my past 35+ years of conservation affiliation, far to many law men and women wish to levee their authority at the expense of the individual just because they can get by with it (hiding behind the badge) and not indulging themselves in really properly educating the victim so they in turn will be a better conservationist themselves.
Have a great outdoors experience and always strive to better educate yourselves of the great outdoors and it’s inhabitants and always share it with others! After all, we humans are only visitors in their domain!
I agree with both the comments above as an avid outdoors men i feel that the man should have kept calm and quiet and to let the moose pass with no trouble. The moose gave the guy a warning, perfectly clear with his body language that he was pissed off, hopefully the correct action was taken by the local game and fish in the area to ticket the guy who fired the gun that killed the moose as well as donated the meat of such a large animal to Hunters for the Hungry, or local charity in the area.
We can all as hunters take this bad and turn it in to something positive and hopefully teach this man and his son a great lesson of respect mother nature, animals have attitudes too.
I hope this guy is charged with multiple game violations and prosecuted accordingly. As a hunter,I am disgusted by his actions. As a state Natural Resource Officer I would have a hard time not arresting him.
This guy is 100% at fault and should be charged, could have been easily avoided if he would have respected mother nature and yielded.
This guy provoked the moose. He continues to creep up on him after the moose gives him a nice warning. The moose puts his ears back multiple times to warm this guy but like a fool he continues forward. This is how good sportsman have hunting rights taken away. This guy should be shared through the roof with everything. He is 100 percent wrong. He also leaves the moose to suffer as he rides by it after he wounds it. I would like him to be charged like a poacher. I am a avid hunter and this is very upsetting to see.