We were camping along the Cache La Poudre River last week with our camping buddies. Our neighbor, who was a local weekend warrior who hunted the region for elk, told us where we could go to see some moose. We went where he told us in two cars as they wanted to stay out longer than we did.
We were not disappointed. They saw 20 and we saw a dozen, perhaps more. They were all very healthy and were magnificent. We saw 3 of the largest bulls we had ever seen. We saw a cow with twins. We had to drive between two yearlings along the gravel road. We got held up in a narrow canyon by a huge bull who was in no hurry to leave the road. Finally, a tool driving an FJ Cruiser came from the opposite direction and began to slowly pressure the bull by driving him toward us. The bull started circling around confused at where to go or what to do. Thankfully, he left the road and climbed about 60 feet up a heavily wooded 50 degree slope to escape. It amazed me that an animal that size and that heavy could make such a steep climb.
By the time he left the road it was getting dark so we had to drive back to our campground in the dark. When we hit the CO14 highway it was quite dark. The road was good asphalt but the vegetation came right up to the right-of-way in numerous spots.
We were about 10 miles or more away from where we had seen our last moose, cruising along at the 45mph speed limit. All of a sudden I saw a flash of black and brown near the right mirror, heard and felt a big thump and heard my DW let out a surprised exclamation.
There was no time to even take the foot of the gas or identify what we collided with. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a large moose calf standing kinda wobbly in our lane and slowly shaking his head side-to-side. I thought I must have hit a deer but the color, size, knobby knees and shape of the head didn't match a deer. My wife got a better look and convinced me it was a moose(our 13th that day.)
I could also see headlights approaching from behind but the vegetation was so close there was no place to even pull off the road. I had to drive about a half mile before I could pull over. After making sure my DW was
I checked out the Kia. I was sure it must have busted the mirror but there wasn't a scratch, dent or tuft of hair on it.
We turned around and drove over that road in both directions several times but couldn't find the moose. There was no cell service in the canyon. I wanted to report it in case the moose suffered an injury to its head, jaw or teeth that would affect its ability to function or eat.
I have driven many, many miles over 58 years, much of it in the deer-infested Texas hill country, and never hit a deer. Now it appears I have been hit by a moose. Go figure.