On the way home, to north Idaho, from the airport in Spokane we collided with a moose. If it weren't for our Ford F-350 truck, and the moose being young, we would have been killed.
It was 9:30 at night, dark. The moose was black and it was running across the hiway, we didn't see until it was in front of the truck. All my husband had time to do was shout "Oh (&)*, a moose" and slam on the brakes. I was sleeping in the passenger seat, I opened my eyes and heard the bang all at the same time. In a spit second the body of the moose slid up the hood, then she flew off. I think her momentum carried her to the side of the road.
We called the hiway patrol and it took them forever to come, at least thirty minutes. I'm guessing that was because no one was hurt, but the moose was suffering as I had told them in the report. Just before the patrol showed up the moose was flailing and starting to drag herself back to the hiway. When the officer showed up he ended up having to "put her down". Unfortunately, it took him two tries, it was ugly. We were so shaken. Before the patrol showed up there was one man who stopped and used a yellow flashing light to warn drivers behind us, but they just zoomed on by. Three other cars stopped and offered help if needed. We are very appreciative to them, who ever they were.
Most people die as a result of hitting a moose, they are so tall the bumber knocks their legs out from under them and they crash into the cab. We were fortunate this was not a large moose and our truck is tall, plus we were slowing down for a red light...thank the good Lord!
