Moose Attack!

It was very hard going today but finally we had some work that was enjoyable!! We took a break from everything and got the dogs out for a trial run and to do some trail maintenance. We only took one sled, two mushers and ten dogs but it really felt like we had 20 pullers out there! The dogs worked seriously hard and both James and I did too. Lots of snowshoeing and LOTS of time trying to find the trail.

Janice was great when she came out today to run the foster dogs. Brooks (now called Abbie) did great for her and she pulled Janice all the way out to our first turn off before heading back to the parking area. We continued on to find the trail we hadn't been on all season and also to hit another trail that we had started breaking out last time but never finished.

I'm not sure how long the dogs broke trail but our total run was 14 miles and they really hit it hard, coming in looking super strong. James L took a lot of video and I broke it down into the best pieces so you can get an idea of how the trail was. You can see that we were only on groomed trails at the very beginning of the run, all the rest was breaking open the trail through some deep, deep snow.

If you look close you can see Hermes up front running loose showing the team where to go. He is our official trail finder and James L has given him a new nickname the 'Snow Cat'! Even though hes a dog I'm sure he wouldn't be offended to be called a cat since its a direct reference to some of the best, hardworking snowmobiles on the market.

To see video click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF3cgaiHDvQ

The dogs came in looking super strong but at the end I thought I saw a moose, James kept scanning with his light and I with mine but didnt see anything. We thought it was a fluke but a few minutes later she came charging out of the woods, right into the middle of the team, hit Reba hard, she went down but the moose still stayed there threatening to stomp again while James and I screamed at her until she finally wandered back into the woods.

I jumped out of the sled bag when I saw Reba went down. I didn't know at first who it was but as I was frantic I could hear James L saying it wasn't good to stay there. My mind was like oatmeal, I couldn't think even though I knew he was making sense. What if she came back? I tried to get Reba out of the team, she was in shock, and when it was clear that I couldn't lift her James told me to stand on the break so he could run up and put her in the sled bag.

She was bleeding from somewhere but we couldn't tell where, nor was it a concern since we were only about 2 minutes away from the dog truck. James had to jump in the sled and hold on to her as we sped back to parking lot, all she wanted to do was jump up and run but we knew better. If she was seriously injured that would only complicate things.

I kept looking for the moose the whole way back but she didn't show back up. My hands were wet and freezing from all the trail breaking but that was all forgotten when we got back to the truck and needed to unhook the dogs. Every one seemed fine as I unhooked them while James L looked over Reba for injury. We couldn't tell where she was bleeding from but later it appeared that she was hit right across her nose which may have been where the blood came from. There was blood also on her toes but that may have been the dripping from her nose since she was walking remarkably well.

We brought her in that night and set her up with a crate to rest in my office while her pain meds kicked in. Reba doesn't like to be isolated in a crate much but that night I saw no complaints and she slept the whole night.

Today she is looking fine as ever and it still amazes me how much power a moose can have but choose not to use it. Ive only been that close to a moose one other time in my life, this time I was riding in the sled basket! Much too close! Another encounter I had was when a momma moose had attacked Spock and slammed both front legs into his rib cage. I swore he should have broken ribs but never showed any sign of pain or injury, not even stiffness!

Either these dogs are super beings, the moose are kind to us or we just have a great streak of good fate that leads us into these situations without serious injury.

Walking away from that encounter leaves me shaken, to say the least, but also extremely grateful for what ever or who ever is watching out for our well being and safety. That trip could have ended so horribly wrong but it didn't. It tested James L and I in ways no one wants to be tested but in doing so has given us much more confidence in ourselves and our dogs than before.