Everyone worries about me getting eaten by a grizzly. That may happen still, but I have always known that moose are more dangerous, in many ways, to humans.

Bears, for one thing, do everything they can to avoid humans. That is why you are supposed to travel in groups and talk aloud when hiking in bear country. They hear human voices and they take off. Bells don’t work because they don’t sound like the human voice. Talking and singing are better. Moose don’t care if humans are around. They have one goal and that is to eat or otherwise destroy all of the shrubs.

The other problem with moose is that they hate dogs because wolves are their only serious predator. Dogs trigger a moose’s inner defense mechanism, something I first read about in a book recounting the Iditarod race. A competitor told the story of a moose trampling his lead sled dog because he was too close and too wolf-like.

So, several moose have been hanging around the entrance to Riley Campground here in Denali National Park. Most of the day, cars have lined up to watch a young, single moose gnaw at the shrubs. When I drove by once, he was so close I was able to get a decent photo, which I sent to my son. Cool? Maybe not.

This morning, that moose charged me and Tango as we unexpectedly crossed paths on our morning walk. He was maybe 10 feet from us and pranced//kicked up his legs/charged towards us. I ran, which is the recommendation. Tango sat there. He didn’t bark or charge back. He just sat watching this strange creature. Fortunately, when I ran, the moose went back to his feast, but I could not get Tango to come to me. He must have heard the fear in my voice as I commanded him to come. Eventually, I had to circle around to grab his leash and then high-tailed it out of there.

As are most human/wildlife encounters, this was my own fault. For one thing, ever since I got here, the moose has been in that area where I was walking and looking for a trail I had not been on yet. For that reason alone, I should not have crossed his turf with my dog. Also, I knew from our hike the day before that lots of other moose were out along the other margins of the campground and that I was in constant danger of surprising one. We had walked a 3-mile loop from the far side of the campground over to the visitor center and every few yards I passed moose droppings. Moose are all around me and Tango and, by default, I should not be on the front country trails with my dog without being ultra vigilant, which I was not that early in the day. Imagine if we had stumbled across the mama and her twins who hang out near the entrance?  

After the charge, the normally 10-minute walk to the campsite took about 5 minutes. I replayed over and over that moment when I realized what was happening. I counted my blessings that he retreated. Later, I headed to town in the car and passed the same moose, still gorging on shrubs near the road. As I neared him I rolled down the window. “F—er” is all I could say in a loud yet wobbling tone that was a mixture of terror and disgust. He looked at me right through the window with blank, uncomprehending eyes and then I drove on. 

Did I report that incident? Nope.They told me when I checked in with a dog to be careful around moose. The night before, at the ranger talk about wolves, she reminded us that we are only visitor, in the home of the BMW (bear, moose, wolf). Nothing more.  I know that I would probably be reprimanded for walking where I did with a dog and reminded again: it is their territory. Besides, I beat myself up enough. Once again, we learn that It is human error that usually leads to bad encounters, not the other way around.

I found this article about the same problem in the same campground in 2015.