Ever play hide and seek with a big bull moose?
Wildlife is abundant in Glacier National Park in Montana. Over 70 different mammal species call the national park home, and mule deer are often easy to spot across the beautiful landscape. More than three million people visit Glacier each year to try and catch a glimpse of the variety of wild animals (like bears, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep).
This hiker got more than a glimpse of the wild life… they got an incredibly close call when their hike turned into a hide.
Hiking is great and all, but is it worth it? I’ve been on my fair share of hikes, and I’m starting to question it. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in the great outdoors, getting exercise and taking in the grand views. However, I’ve never found myself in a tense, potential standoff where my life could be in danger.
Hiking trails and roads are commonly used by animals as well as people for no other reason than… it’s easy to move. Would a moose rather weave its way through the thick forest, or just mosey on down the road? Animals often times opt to take the road/path, which means run-ins with people are inevitably – and dangerously – going to happen. The good news? As long as you get out of the way early enough, the wild animals tend to leave you alone.
That’s fortunately how things played out for this hiker in Glacier National Park. They were walking along on the path when they spotted a towering moose. Moose are the largest of all deer in the deer family, and their height and weight might surprise you. Males are typically bigger than females, with bull moose usually standing at 6 feet tall at their shoulders and weighing up to 1,400 pounds.
The one in this clip was definitely up there in size, which is why the hiker intelligently decided to get off the path and seek shelter from the wild animal behind a sizable tree. I can’t even imagine how many beats per minute this person’s heart was running at as they had a front-row seat to the moose walking on by.
The video was shared by AccuWeather, and the caption for the post explained that this hiker did exactly what they should have done in this situation:
“The National Park Service says if you come across a moose and you think it is going to charge you, run away or take cover behind something solid like a tree.”
Almost feels like a scene out of Jurassic Park, you know?
Pretty wild to think that there’s just animals out there that are that big. If you are smart, you hope that you never get that close to the wildlife. It’s much more enjoyable (and less life-threatening) to enjoy nature from a safe distance. Sometimes, nature comes to you, like it did with this hiker, and you don’t have a choice.
But hey… as long as you are good at hide and seek, you’ll be fine.
