Contributed by Bill Brokaw
“Hey Pat, there’s a large bull moose up against our front deck!”
These were words that I would regret! Even though my wife, Pat, and I have lived in our hillside home located above Anchorage for the last 22 years, we never seem to tire of watching the antics of these big, long-legged animals.
Upon hearing my words, my wife quickly moved down the stairs to see the big animal. Upon seeing the moose she immediately went to our fridge and retrieved an apple. She dashed out our front door, and proceeded to hold the apple for the moose to eat. He gently and quickly took the apple from her hand and gobbled it down. After exclaiming how quickly the moose ate the apple, she ran to the fridge for another apple.
Seeing my wife disappear, Mr. Moose, decided to munch our house-side greenery on his way to the back of our home. Being that he was up tight against our house I decided to add another picture to the hundreds that I have accumulated of these placid animals over the years. He seemed quite friendly and had a nice set of antlers. So with camera in hand I followed his movement around the house.
I snapped a couple pictures as the moose was heading to our back door to greet my wife and enjoy her apple. He walked right up to her and was reaching for the apple when it fell to the ground. Both the moose and my wife reached for the apple at the same time, and the collision of my wife’s face with the moose’s antler caused her to suffer a long bleeding gash above her left eye. She quickly slammed the door and screamed for my assistance.
Meanwhile, before my wife screamed, I had heard the back door shut, and saw an angry moose on it’s back legs pawing the back door. A shill scream, just before the moose’s angry action, made me fear that the moose had done major damage to my wife. I dashed to my wife’s aide. We both thanked God, when we realized the antler caused cuts were not deep, and the surface bleeding pretty much stopped when I doused the cuts with Neosporin and hrodrogen peroxide and covered with a large band aide. Also, thankfulness for a spared left eye.
Pat, realizing how close she came to major injuries, told me to never again inform her of a moose in our area. And believe she will not be sharing food with any wild animals.
Sharing food with wild animals can be dangerous to your health.