Wildlife danger on trails and roads is real

I was enjoying my first cup of coffee this morning, standing out on the deck as the Papillons did their morning stroll of the yard.

Then the pair ducked around the side of the house and started yammering to beat the band.  Since they bark at anything, it’s usually not cause for concern, but I followed just to be sure.

And a great bull moose was staring the two pups down from 30 yards on the edge of the yard and the road that borders us. Luckily neither seemed inclined to close the distance and the bull stepped across the roadway…then froze and laid back his ears at an approaching whirring sound.

Our neighborhood road slopes steeply up the Hillside and the it’s a popular raceway for local bikers, who struggle up and come sailing down the hill at breakneck speed.

The bull whirled just as a biker rounded the corner and swerved at 30 mph or more to miss the 1200-pound wall of flesh by feet if not inches.  Luckily he somehow maintained control, and the bull froze in his tracks, so you’d have to score it as a near miss.  I shudder to think what the aftermath of a full man-on-moose collision would have been.

As he zoomed past, the biker glanced at me with eyes bigger than saucers. I’d say we all lucked out.

So this short tale is a reminder, whether you walk, hike or bike the trails this month, that we are not alone.  The moose are still coming off their winter starvation and are hitting the new grass along the roads.  Same for the bears, brown and black, that are out and hungry.  There have been several well documented and horrific maulings when a biker on a trail ran right into a grizzly.

I’ve never had an issue with a bear on our hill, but been chased a plenty by Mama moose, who go stark raving mad for the first weeks after they drop new calves…which will be in just the next two weeks.

It’s natural as spring calls us outside to hit it at high speed.  Just be careful out there, be vigilant, and be ready to stop at a safe distance.