The Bigelow family from Idaho had a close call while riding their snowmobiles in Palisades, Idaho, when they stumbled upon a moose that had intersected them.
Despite trying to distance themselves from the animal, they were unable to do so as Bigelow’s son, who was following behind, could not reverse. As a result, the family had a terrifying encounter with the moose, leaving them feeling humbled to have made it out alive.
“The moose was trapped. We were trapped,” Bigelow said, according to WAFB.
Hoping to avoid agitating the moose, Bigelow made an effort not to provoke the animal, anticipating it would leave on its own. However, the moose unexpectedly charged towards them.
“She drops her head and just charges right at us. And I said, ‘Oh, shoot,’” Bigelow said.
After focusing on Bigelow and his family, the moose shifted its attention towards Bigelow’s brother, who had been leading the group but became separated when the animal made an appearance.
“He saw it charge us, so he was over there trying to distract it and get it away because he could go straight and get out of there,” Bigelow said.
In an attempt to divert the moose’s attention, Bigelow’s brother stood on his snowmobile and waved his arms, but unfortunately, this only made him a target. The moose started running at him and with only seconds to react, he had to quickly make a move as the wild beast charged towards him.
“He sits down and hits the gas, and the snow machine died. He looks back over his shoulder, just for a second, realizes it’s right there and jumps off. And as he jumps off, it hits the snow machine right on,” Bigelow said.
Bigelow captured the moment on video, where his brother can be seen jumping off the snowmobile seconds before the moose collides with it, causing the animal to fall on top of the snowmobile and onto the ground. Although shaken, Bigelow’s brother was unharmed and quickly returned to his snowmobile.
“He just stands up, and you can see in the video for a second, they have this little old fashioned western standoff, where they’re staring at each other,” Bigelow said.
Finally, the moose turned and departed, leaving the brothers shocked and surprised.
“It could have killed him. I mean, the amount of weight that came down on those handlebars, it pushed the handlebars all the way forward. So, it would have been pretty catastrophic,” Bigelow said.
Bigelow stated that the moose was unharmed, even though it collided with the snowmobile. The incident left the family feeling grateful to be alive, and they intend to learn from it.