Caleb Lewis of Allagash Antlers was lucky he didn’t get more injuries when a rut-crazed moose decided he was a threat and charged him in the woods of northern Maine.
Lewis, who was in the woods around 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, setting up game cameras in a swampy area in preparation for deer season, said he heard a cow moose bellowing. He saw that three bulls were vying for her attention. One of the bulls heard Lewis coming and decided to check him out in case he was in competition.
Lewis said he took his phone out and began videoing the bull’s approach, but the big animal just kept coming.
“Before I knew it, he was three feet standing there in front of me. I let him know that I was in fact not another bull and told him he was ‘close enough,’” Lewis said. That command can be heard in the video.
He expected the moose to be spooked by his human voice, as has occurred in past encounters, but the rut seemed to obliterate any normal reactions from this bull. The moose swung his head to charge him as Lewis told him “no!” But it was too late. The bull was committed to challenging the man.
Lewis turned his back to the big animal, reaching his left hand behind him to try to block the moose’s antler. The bull knocked him to the ground and he slid about 6 feet from the impact, he said.
“Luckily, my yelling ‘HEY, HEY, HEY!’ was enough to make him change his mind and stop coming after me,” Lewis said.
The bull took off in the opposite direction, leaving Lewis on his hands and knees assessing his injuries. There were a few bumps and bruises to his legs, back and arms, he said, grateful that his injuries were not worse.
He crept slowly out of the swamp, he said.
Allagash Antlers, which is a business that hunts for moose and deer antlers shed in the woods and cuts them into dog chews to sell, has run into cows and calves in the spring, and bulls during the rut. The business’ black lab Tripper and Australian shepherd Finley have been trained to leave the animals alone while they hunt for the shed antlers, he said.
But this was the first time a bull has come after any of the shed hunters, Lewis said. He was glad he didn’t have the dogs with him.
Lewis was a ranger on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway for five years until he and his wife turned Allagash Antlers into a full-time business. Being able to carve out a full-time occupation they enjoyed allowed them to stay in Aroostook County, he said.
Allagash Antlers tries to be aware of where moose are when they are in the woods, but sometimes you just walk up on them, Lewis said.
