I've read that hitting a moose is a real killer. Apparently they are so tall that the mass of their bodies are above the top of the hood, so that when you hit them, you cut their legs out from under them and your windshield collides with their bodies at 55 MPH. Whoever fails to duck, dies. It's akin to driving under the back end of a semi. Regarding Ken's hitting a deer in a VW Bug...I had a friend hit a bear in one. My friend and the bear survived. The car got squashed like...well...like a Bug.
LOL!!! Not to meander too far here, but based on childhood experiences, I will not eat rabbit unless I have a metal detector handy.
Yeah, hitting a moose is like hitting a draft horse or a long-legged cow. The impact is taken by the windshield, not the hood. I saw a truck that had a tall Brush Guard installed just for the purpose of moose protection. When he hit a moose, the animal bounced off his brush guard and took off the top of the camper he had in the bed of his truck.
The other problems with moose are that they are not nearly as visible at night as deer are. Their eyes don't shine in the dark, they don't make the jerky movements that deer do, and they are less likely to even try to get off of the road. Sometimes, the only way you can know that there are moose in the road ahead of you is when they block the headlights of a car coming toward you from the other direction.
THAT is frightening. I just read that their coats are not reflective, and their eyes are too high up to catch your headlights. That in and of itself is rather other-worldly...like a stealth wall that "just appears."
You can sometimes see their legs moving in the dark as the hair on th legs seems to be a bit lighter than the rest of the body but you have to be very alert to catch that before you hit them.
Miles the Moose be gettin' jiggy There are over 500 moose/vehicle collisions every year in northern New England. There are over 800 moose/vehicle collisions every year in Alaska. State Farm estimates that there are over 1,500,000 deer collision claims annually. I'm not trying to make a direct comparison, I actually grabbed the deer number to keep it on topic. Best data I could find regarding deer is there are 20 states with deer populations of 1,000,000 or more. No wonder I never leave the compound.
Where I live, I would guess that the deer and moose populations are fairly equal, with the advantage to the deer; but where my camp is, the moose far outnumber the deer.
And where the moose reside, their active season [winter] nights are much longer than elsewhere. That's a horrible combination. I'd be driving a sports car and pray that I could fit underneath.
Many more states have deer populations, and the moose populations are somewhat lower per sq. mile due to the size of the animal. Also, moose tend to live in areas that have fewer cars.
On my land up north. I had posted these previously, but in a thread from 2015. There are more critters in that thread.
And where the moose reside, their active season [winter] nights are much longer than elsewhere. That's a horrible combination. I'd be driving a sports car and pray that I could fit underneath. Reminds me of when I saw my first bear here up close & personal. You realize that they're just out there wandering around...untethered. It frightens me and makes me happy, all at the same time.
Coming back from my land up north, late in the afternoon but in daylight, I saw a bear crossing the road on Route 11 in Northern Maine, which is not a heavily trafficked road. It crossed the road at an area where there was a guard railing. Instead of going around it, or over it, the bear decided to squeeze under it. It was a big bear and I thought it was going to get stuck, but it managed. There are a lot of bears in Maine, but we don't see them very often. It's amazing how a large bear can disappear in what doesn't seem to be a whole lot of foliage. So the likelihood of hitting a bear with your car is remote, at least in Maine, although it can be done. We only have black bears here and generations of being hunted have made them pretty cautious. Deer, on the other hand, can make large leaps, suddenly appearing on the road in front of your car, so they tend to be hit a lot, particularly by people who aren't scanning the tree line as they drive. On the other hand, these same rapid movements make them easier to spot than a moose, so it's a matter of whether you see them in time to avoid hitting them.
I had been here for over 5 years before I saw my first bear. I had been in my woods a lot, and had 5-6 game cams set up all over the place, and never saw any hint of them. They only came in because I had started buying fresh seafood from a new place that opened up, and the small of the wrappers in my trash can was too much to resist. I know they live nearby because for those few days they were at my trash, I got pics of cubs with no adult in the immediate vicinity. And a year or so later one came back and just ambled across the yard towards the woods as I stood on the deck and watched. He did look back over his shoulder at me, not to terribly concerned. Then he walked into the woods and just disappeared. How can anything that big be so stealthy? I'm not certain what kind of hunting pressure is on them in this county. I get all sorts of info from our game department, and during the season there will be dozens taken in each of the mountainous counties, while the reported take here is usually 3-5. The guys here are primarily hunting deer to put in their freezers, although I once let a neighbor come over with dogs to hunt for rabbit...no hares were harmed in that excursion. I read your older thread with all the game cam pics. Just marvelous stuff. It makes me smile to be in the midst of it.