I can still remember the first time I ever saw a moose. I was 10 years old, and my uncle had just purchased a cabin out in the woods of Maine. He had known the area for a while, had visited numerous times over the years, and he finally bit the bullet on moving out. I went to visit him with my dad, and the whole area seemed like a separate world compared to the city where we lived. Not too long after we arrived, I was standing in the front yard with my uncle while he chopped wood and my dad was inside. I didn’t want to distract him too much from his task, so mainly I just sat on the grass and took in the nature. It was a nice day, and it was fun to just listen to the birds and look at the mountains in the distance. Eventually, I noticed something over by the trees, about 200 feet away. Part of it was covered by a bush, but it was still obvious what it was.
“Uncle, look! A moose!”It was bigger than I had figured it’d be just from looking at all the photos I’d seen. It looked to be about nearly seven feet tall, not counting its massive horns.
My uncle’s eyes followed where my hand was pointing, and when he saw it, his face tensed up and his brow furrowed.
“Hey uh, maybe you should go back inside,” he said.
“Why? It’s nice out here!”
“I know, but your dad probably wants your company,” he was gently nudging me in the direction of the cabin at that point, so I decided to not argue and do as he said. The rest of the visit went uneventfully. When we were getting ready to leave, however, I asked him what the deal had been about the moose.
“Are moose like, dangerous or something?”
“Well, most aren’t. The ones around here, though, there’s something different.”
“What’s different about them?”
“I…it’s probably best I don’t tell you.”
“But I don’t-”
“It’s not that important. They don’t usually come too close to the house. The one today might have just been a brave one. But if you ever do see one. Head right back inside and let me know.”
“Uh, okay.”
You’d think that would scare me away from ever wanting to visit him again. However, if anything, it made me like the place more. It made the area seem more mysterious and cool. I began asking my dad if I could visit more often. He was cool with it, and if anything, he probably liked that I was willing to spend time in a place without internet access. I would go up to the cabin about 10 times a year. I’d read, draw, help with maintaining the place, you get the idea. Occasionally I’d see a moose, but I’d just do what my uncle had told me to do, and that would be that.
One of those visits was right after my junior year of college. It seemed like it would be the same as any other visit. I had just gotten a new camera and was hoping to take some photos, so I was a little more excited than I normally was, but that was the only thing different from the usual routine.I arrived at about 5 in the afternoon, and the next few hours went by without a hitch. When it was about 10, I got the idea to go out and take some nighttime photos of the trees. I thought I’d be able to get some cool-looking, eerie stuff. I hadn’t gone out alone at night without my uncle before, but he had gone to bed early, and I figured I’d be okay without him. The thing with the moose honestly hadn’t entered my mind.
Leaving the cabin with my camera and a flashlight, I walked out to trees and began taking photos. I got a few good ones, but I decided to walk into the woods a bit to take some more. As I walked deeper in, I heard a strange sound not too far away. It sounded like a combination of tearing and splashing. I turned on my flashlight and did a quick scan of the area in front of me. Something caught my eye about 50 feet away, and I focused my light on that. I saw a moose, head down, eating something. When I realized what it was eating, I froze.
It was eating what looked like a dead deer, and making a mess of it, with blood all over its head and the ground. I watched as it tore away another piece of flesh and swallowed it. Even though I only had my light on it for about five seconds, it felt like much longer. Suddenly, it paused and looked up towards me. My heart jumped up into my mouth as I turned around and sprinted back towards the cabin. With each step I took, I was worried that the moose was somehow catching up to me even though I couldn’t actually hear it running behind me. I finally reached the cabin, practically dove through the door, and locked it tight behind me.
My mind was racing trying to rationalize what I had seen. Surely, I had to have just gotten confused or something. It must have just been eating some weird kind of bush that my eyes mistook for a deer. Moose aren’t carnivores, obviously. As for the blood, maybe it had just gotten it on its head by accident. I still couldn’t fully convince myself. Eventually, figuring it was best to just put it behind me, I moved on and decided to get ready for bed. Nothing like a good night of sleep to clear your head, after all. As part of getting ready, I took a hot bath to soothe myself. After I was finished, though I walked back out to the living room to grab my book, and through the open window shade, I saw for a split second a moose looking in through the window. I didn’t see any blood on its face, so it couldn’t have been the same one I saw, but it was still a disturbing thing to see at that moment. It disappeared as soon as it saw me, but I was officially freaked out.
The next morning, after sleeping on it, I felt a little more calm. I knew my uncle owned multiple guns and knew how to use them, so if the worst-case scenario happened, I figured I would be alright. That calmness would be dissipated after I went out with him to get grocers. On the way back inside after we parked in the driveway, I looked into the trees in the distance and saw a moose standing there. It wasn’t moving a muscle. It was just standing there looking at me. Somehow, I felt like it was staring right into my eyes. At that point, I decided I should probably tell my uncle about what had happened the night before. Just needed to get it off my chest, and he’d know what was going on.
“Uncle Tim?” I asked once we had put the groceries away and had sat down on the couch.
“What is it, Nate?”
“There’s probably something I should tell you. Last night, after you went to bed, I went out to take some photos. I walked into the trees-”
“What did I tell you about going into the forest at night without me?” he cut me off.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry. But I saw something.”
“What was it?”
“I saw a moose. It had blood all over its head and was messing with a dead deer or something.”
My uncle sighed heavily and rubbed his face. After a few seconds, he stood up.
“I haven’t ever told anyone this, but at this point, you really should know. The moose around here, they’re different,” he was walking in circles around the room while talking, as if the subject gave him too much energy to sit still.
“Different?”
“These moose seem to have a taste for flesh. There aren’t many wolves in this area, so that’s how they’ve managed to survive, there’s not much competition. Now, they’re smart, too. They’ll remember a face for years. That’s why they don’t give me any trouble. I killed a few of them a little bit before I moved out here. They know not to mess with me. Almost like they’re telling each other who to leave alone. You, on the other hand,” he stopped walking and looked at me, “They see you as less of a challenge. They don’t usually come out too much during the day, and even during the night, they know that you’re with me, so they won’t try to mess with you.”
I didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Flesh eating moose? Now I knew I hadn’t just been seeing things last night. It was a lot, knowing that all the times I had come out here, I had been in danger of being killed by an animal I thought was docile. Suddenly, a thought came to mind.
“Let me kill one.”
His eyebrows jolted up.
“What?”
“I’ve fired the hunting rifle with you before. I know how to use it. Let me kill one so they don’t bother me ever.”
He shook his head.
“I can’t let you do that. You’re already safe enough with me here, and I can’t risk you getting hurt.”
“Look all I-”
“It’s not happening!” he put his hand on my shoulder, “I know you’re an adult now, but you’re still my nephew. You’re in my house, I call the shots, and I’m telling you’re not going to risk your life doing this.”
The conversation ended there, and I spent the rest of the day thinking. Suddenly, I had an idea.
It was dark when I walked out of the cabin door with a rifle in one hand and a lantern in the other. My uncle was asleep at that point, and while I knew any shots I fired would wake him up, I had to do this. It was something I figured would eat at me until I got it over with. Besides, it wouldn’t be too risky. I’d take a shot while it was a good distance away, then if I missed, I’d sprint back to the cabin. It was about 100 feet from the back of the cabin to the trees, so that was a good head start. It wouldn’t be too hard of a shot anyway, since moose are big targets. When I went behind the cabin, I turned on the lantern. It was one of those really powerful ones that can light up just about an entire yard. With that plus the stars shining in the sky, I could see a good deal. After setting the lantern on the ground, I stood there and waited. It was a nice night, so waiting wasn’t too hard.
After a while, I heard a rustling in the trees, and I gripped the rifle trigger in anticipation. Out of the woods came two large moose. It didn’t look like either of them had spotted me just yet. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest at this point, both in fear and excitement to shoot one. As soon as I was sure I had a good shot, I lifted the rifle to my face, aimed, and pulled the trigger. When the moose didn’t fall to the ground, my heart dropped. I had missed it. How could I have missed it? It was an easy shot, and I’d hit smaller targets from longer before. Even worse, now they had spotted me and were starting to move.
Panicking, I fired off another shot, but it missed too. No surprise with how much my hands were shaking, and the ringing in my ears only distracted me. Knowing how fast moose can get, I decided to abandon ship, drop the rifle, and run back. I could hear the hoofs pound on the grass behind me, although just barely with how heavily I was breathing. Luckily, the head start I had on them proved just enough, and I was able to get to the door, swing it open, and jump back inside to safety. Taking a seat on the couch, I reflected on what had happened. I really didn’t need to risk my neck. I had been perfectly safe already, and what I did was a stupid idea. Then I heard a voice.
“Care to explain those gunshots?”It was my uncle standing in the doorway to his bedroom, still in his pajamas.
“Uh…” I stammered, “I was trying to kill a moose, and-”
“Oh Christ,” he sighed, “Y’know what? These fuckers have been getting too close lately. I can fix this.”
He walked back into his room and came out with the larger rifle he owned.
“What’re you doing?”
“I’m gonna remind them whose property they’re on. Now, where’s the lantern?”
“It’s out back. I took it with me.”
“Smart move.”
He opened the door and I went to follow him, but he stopped me.
“No. This, I gotta do by myself. They can’t be too far away, this’ll just take a minute.”
I didn’t want to stay, but I did anyway. He disappeared out the door, leaving me to wait. After a surprisingly quick amount of time, roughly 30 seconds, I heard a loud bang. I guess they really must have been close by. Not long after that, my uncle came back to the door.
“Grab the flashlight and your knife and come out here.”
I did just that, and once I was outside, he walked around to the back of the cabin. I saw one of the moose lying on the ground, dead. When we got closer, I could see the top of its head had been blown off, scattering its brain matter.
“Check this out,” my uncle said, taking the flashlight from my hand. He pulled the moose’s mouth open and shone the light at it. It had a row of sharp teeth, like that of a wolf. I truly had gotten lucky I didn’t die earlier that night. And yet for some reason, right then and there, I started laughing. Something about it all just seemed so absurd. A flesh-eating moose.
“You think you find this funny?” my uncle smiled, “Imagine when I first found out years ago!” after a few seconds he asked, “You have your knife, right?”
I handed it to him, and he reached it down to the moose’s mouth. After about a minute of work, he pulled out a tooth and handed it to me.
“Here’s a souvenir. Wash it off in the sink and put it on your dresser or something. Bit of a souvenir. Now, let’s get back inside. You should be in bed by now.”
As we walked back, one thought crossed my mind. “Hey uh, can I still come and visit you here?”
“Of course! Like I said, you’re safe here as long as I’m around.”
“Okay, great!”
“One day, you’ll kill one of these things. Then, you can keep its whole skull or something.”
“I look forward to it.”
I don’t feel as shaken in the weeks following as I probably should have been. I could have easily gotten killed by a wild animal, and yet I didn’t feel much lasting trauma. There was one thing that did stick with me. The idea of me one day conquering one of those moose.