Beware of those elusive moose

You’ve been reading a lot about moose recently. I’ve written about the first moose harvested under the new “hot spot” registration hunt Fish and Game began this past year and also about moose population numbers in the Valley based on Fish and Game’s survey work this past fall.

Other articles in this newspaper and other publications have addressed concerns about moose/human interactions this winter season. I thought Greg Johnson’s recent article in the Frontiersman was especially well done in highlighting how deep snow and cold temperatures are moving more moose than normal into the lower reaches of the Valley. His article also discussed some of the problems that have resulted from having all these moose hanging around the roadways, school areas and subdivisions throughout the Mat-Su. Heather Resz just recently wrote about a moose attacking a Willow man while he walked his dog.

In this column, I want to emphasize the need to slow down while driving and keep a sharp eye out for moose along the edges of the roads. While Gnarly Dan and I were returning from his nuisance moose hunt up the Glenn Highway, we must have seen nearly two-dozen moose in groups ranging from single animals to a half-dozen critters within, at times, only a few yards of the road. This was on the way home. Those same animals were probably close to their same locations during the dark, early morning drive to the hot spot hunt location. We just hadn’t seen them.

For those of you new to Alaskan winter driving conditions or who have never had a moose/vehicle collision experience, I can relate to how you might view this situation. How could you not see a 1,000-pound animal standing in the middle of the road or walking over a snow berm to get onto the plowed highway surface? For a long time, I thought people who actually hit a moose on the roadway must have somehow been negligent in the attention they were paying to what was in front of them.

And then I hit a moose!

I was still working for Fish and Game and had been up the Parks Highway to meet with one of our boating access site concession operators to negotiate a renewal operating contract. It was early April and still light into the evening. I was driving home to Big Lake about 8 p.m. and had just crossed the Little Susitna River south of Houston doing the speed limit when I encountered the moose. I wasn’t too concerned about seeing one because I was driving through an area where the highway corridor had been recently widened. From one treeline to the other, the clearing had to be 300-400 yards wide and there was still some snow on the ground. How could I not see a moose?

Suddenly, an adult cow moose was standing mere feet from my moving car and straddling the yellow highway centerline. My car took out her two front legs and her head crashed directly into the windshield in front of me. The moose was flipped over the car and most likely was dead when it hit the ground. The roof support and mirror on the driver’s side were wiped out, the roof was badly dented and there was moose hair all over inside the car. I hit the brakes after the collision and pulled over to the shoulder. My evasive reaction didn’t even begin until after the impact. Two guys following about a half-mile behind me pulled over to make sure I wasn’t badly hurt. They told me what they had seen and surmised of how the moose had been thrown into the air and how she landed on the highway.

I was lucky. The windshield was shattered, but held together. The moose’s head impacting the glass had driven the windshield back far enough to lightly cut my knuckles on both hands while holding the steering wheel. I also received a small cut on the bridge of my nose. I called my wife to let her know what happened and that I was OK. I asked her to call the troopers. The Houston ambulance responded and treated my cuts while we waited for the troopers to arrive. Dispatch also called a wrecker to pick up my car and the driver swept off the highway

The cow was almost black in color and probably had been standing or walking along the edge of the road. The dark hair color blended perfectly with the dark highway background. Unfortunately for both her and me, she decided to cross the road in front of me. There was no traffic headed north and I was the first southbound vehicle in a while. I had seen no vehicle lights in either direction until the guys behind me appeared in my mirror just before I struck the moose.

I suddenly became a believer that anyone at any time could hit a 1,000-pound animal standing over 7 feet tall and 6 feet long, and not even see it until the vehicle was literally impacting the animal. I became much more vigilant and drove slower, especially after dark, from then on.

That accident cost me several thousand dollars. A used replacement vehicle cost me twice what insurance had paid for my totaled car. A moose was dead. This was a total lose-lose situation.

We’ve already killed a normal winter’s quota of moose on our Valley highways and there’s still 10 to 12 weeks of winter driving conditions ahead. Property loss, personal injury, lost wages and dead/maimed moose do not make a good combination. Heed the call and slow down while driving and watch for moose. It just might save your life!

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.