“An angry moose attacked and injured two women as they walked their dogs near a Gilpin County [Colorado] subdivision Sunday,” grandviewoutdoors.com reports. “The Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office says the women were walking on a trail when they were kicked by the animal.” Say what you like about standing tall and waving your hands at a charging moose, or the idea that the moose wasn’t “angry” – simply territorially aggressive. But the fact remains that “Ellen Marie Divis, 57, and Jacqueline Boron, 50 . . . were taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital, where they are in fair condition in the intensive care unit.” No joke. Outdoor carry folks. Outdoor carry.

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36 COMMENTS

  1. In big critter country I always carry at a minimum my Ruger Blackhawk chambered in .45 Colt with Hard Cast Lead Buffalo Bore 325 gr. rounds. It gives me a respectable 1250 ft/lbs at 10 yds.

    • “Ruger Blackhawk chambered in .45 Colt”

      Did yours come with 2 cylinders? .45 Colt and .45 ACP? Mine did.

    • Yes sir. I was going to say either .44 Magnum or .45 Long Colt +P with 6+ inch barrels shooting full power 300+ grain hardcast lead bullets. Those will put a serious crimp in the style of any animal in the Continental U.S.

      And that brings up an interesting question: what are our “dangerous game” in the Continental United States? I am thinking 500+ pound wild hogs and black bears, brown/grizzly bears, moose, and bison.

      • Today in Atlanta one person was killed and 3 or 4 injured as a result of an unspecified gambling game. When the dangerous game is identified I’ll let you know.

  2. I’m a little bit SE of Gilpin County (my place in Douglas County is about 60 road miles from there), but there’s no way I’d be walking around here unarmed. Ignoring fore the moment the rare 2-legged predators, the 4-legged kind are plentiful enough. Big-ass mule deer that aren’t afraid of anyone, black bears (one of which was in my driveway a few months ago), coyotes, and the occasional big cat.

    • I don’t step off my front porch on a dark night without, at the very least, the .45 Blackhawk. It’s effing dark here, and I’m a little more cautious after seeing the bear wandering about just 2 feet from my house.

      • I dont step out onto my concrete patio, or into the dark garage to get in the car in the morning, with my cup of coffee, or let the dog out…

        without first checking carefully for a rattlesnake curled up there –
        nice warm spot in the late afternoon sun that they will stay curled up on,
        waiting on rats or mice, especially if you leave the dog dish out overnite…

        Cost me $400 each for a couple vials of antivenin at the emergency vet clinic the last time I let the mutt poke her nose in gopher holes off leash.

  6. I have not gone out my back door (out the front door to an enclosed yard only occasionally) unarmed in almost nine years – since I moved here. We don’t have a lot of predators or dangerous critters, as a rule, but the rule breaks down when there is one…

    Have had two close encounters with mule deer in my own yard… and glad I didn’t have to shoot either time. But I could have and would have if it was necessary.

    We see elk, deer and antelope, with occasional signs of moutain lion and a rare wolf… but so far no bear or moose. But you just never know.

  7. I can imagine a .380 ACP being just enough to piss off a moose. Unless someone is lucky enough to land a carotid artery hit or into an eye socket …….. good luck.

  8. In CA it’s bobcat attacks I mostly hear about. And “outdoor carry”; with the tight CCW restrictions and NO open carry in most public places, without a badge, good luck.

    • That only leaves you with millions of acres of open forest lands where carry is perfectly legal. Most creatures are pretty shy, except for the occasional starving big cat, coyotes, and the ubiquitous rattlers. Bears are a problem only where they get used to feeding at campgrounds. Aggressive pit bulls are implicated in far more attacks than the wildlife.

      • Yup. Loose aggressive dogs have harmed lots more folks here in SoCal than mountain lions.
        http://www.10news.com/news/2-runners-mauled-by-pack-of-dogs-in-valley-center

        I was hunting pigs in the east county San Diego mountains a couple years ago, and had two Australian cattle dogs pop up out of the brush and bluff charge me, and repeatedly circle around behind to do same, when I walked through one area…

        I’m a dog guy, and was armed with a rifle, so I just gave off the alpha dog attitude, and a couple of command voice warnings, and just gave them their space, circled around the place they seemed to be guarding.

        It wasnt clear if they were defending a den, or a kill, but since they were obviously well enough taken care of not to be mangy, and a breed not normally man aggressive, and responsive to my warnings, I figured I’d give them a chance and not shoot them, unless they got too close. It was a bit dicey, tho.

        Next day I was talking to a guy in a pickup who stopped to talk as I was heading out on a dirt road, who lived on a farm nearby, and said when I asked if he knew about the dogs- “yeah, those are my damn dogs, I am going to have to shoot them, they keep getting out and chasing the deer…” I think he was half serious.

        Anyway, any dog in a pack can be unpredictable – thats what I’d be most on guard for in any urban fringe area, trails, campgrounds near enough to forage human trash, all the abandoned dogs going feral, with the successful ones operating as a pack, to prey on the weak and sick.

        Now the economy is going down again and people are having to give up their pets, I think we will see more of this, closer to the suburbs, that farmers have been familiar with for years, having animals dumped on their land.

  9. The local bison get a hold of people. It’s an almost yearly event that happens during tourist season. There is a critter that, like a moose, can very easily take your life.

  10. We don’t have to many 4 footed critters that cause mayhem around here. But I did live for a time in Idaho and I can say with certainty that moose are not to be messed with. 1700 pounds of pissed off herbivore would be enough to make the most determined vegan a meat eater.

  11. Remember a two week canoe trip in Canada 40 years ago with a couple teen buddies, accompanied by the wildlife biologist father of one –

    who said moose can be more dangerous than bear, especially in the fall during the rut.

    Told of local indian lore- young braves wishing to prove themselves would wait until a moose was swimming across a lake and swim out to jump on its back to ride it, until it got close enough to shore –

    the trick was to get off before it could turn and stomp you to death.
    Maybe a shaggy moose story, who knows.

    here is more:
    http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=livewith.aggressivemoose

  12. In Colorado foothills…Mule deer = no threat most of year. Elk = same. Coyote = no threat unless you have a dropkick dog. Bobcat = no threat. Black bear = no real threat as long as you leave momma and cubs alone, 12g with rubber slugs for hazing. Brown bear = none. Wolf = none yet. Moose = rare but moving in (invasive species, not native), just gonna piss it off. Mountain lion = you won’t see it coming.

    • “In Colorado foothills…Mule deer = no threat most of year.”
      They are afraid of neither me nor my GSD. Several times (latest was last week), I’ve come around the corner of my house, ended up 20 feet from decent-sized buck, and had the thing run toward me.

      “Black bear = no real threat as long as you leave momma and cubs alone”
      Which can become a problem when the one 2 feet from your house is a cub, and you have no idea where momma might be.

    • I am pretty sure that Moose were shot out in Colorado and then breeding pairs were re -introduced in 1978. One thing for sure is a moose can clean the plow of just about any wild animal in N. America, including unsuspecting boulder hikers who let their dogs off leash…

  13. They are very lucky to be alive one of both could have been killed easily. Sorry but the first thing I would do is give up the dog that was probably the reason it was irritated. Seen too many of the little yappers with no brains think they can take on everything not a pretty sight if something that big gets your attention.
    I was in Canada a couple years back camping when a Darwin award winner got between a bull elk and some cows during rut. I understand his wife and kids had a ringside seat while the bull stomped him into plant food. Tragic yes and I still feel sorry for the family but anything that big can kill you simply by running you over.

  14. Coming home from the night shift, my wife spotted two black bear cubs playing in a yard next to the forest foothills near our house. She loves animals and stopped the car to better observe their antics.
    When she got home she told me she almost got out of the car, She wanted to go over and “play” with them. I almost fainted. I told her that mama bear was sure to be nearby, and had you gone over to the cubs, your ass would have been grass!

  16. I read once that regular self defense pepper spray doesn’t work on dogs, and that the mailmen carry a different spray. I’m still not sure about that, but this article gets me wondering whether “bear spray” works on moose, coyotes, or even regular dogs, for that matter. We do have packs of stray dogs roaming Houston which attack with some regularity and sometimes kill people. Might be good to have a strong spray so you’re not forced to use a firearm.

    • Bear spray will work on dogs, but it’s not recommended because it gets all over everything including yourself. Presumably, there’s something that mail carriers have for dogs … https://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&q=dog+spray

      I presume it works on any mammal – the hot peppers it comes from evolved the hot oil specifically so that they wouldn’t be eaten by mammals, which would crush the seeds. Birds are immune to it, so they eat the peppers and poop the seeds some distance away, with a little dollop of natural fertilizer. 😉

  18. I am reminded of the jogger who ran between an elk and her baby in Yellowstone. He was running for his life and the elk was moving a lot slower than she could. She was just snapping her teeth at his heels. She could have had him at any time she wanted. She just wanted to scare the stupid human.

    Maybe there was a baby moose not mentioned.

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