As we previously covered, this turkey hunter had a run-in with a full-grown moose in a wild moment. Now, he's speaking out about his near brush with death.
Jim Dietz was hunting for turkey when he came across a moose with her two young children. It's only natural for the animal to be a bit defensive about her calves.
"It was late afternoon, and I was out enjoying the woods, walking, looking and scouting for turkeys," Dietz tells Outdoor Life. "There were only a few days left in the Idaho season. I was moving through some brush near a creek I didn't know was there when I heard a loud roar, like a bear. ... There are bears in the Snake River bottoms, and that roar got my attention. That's when I saw a cow moose stand up in front of me. She just rose out of the brush .... I'd unknowingly cornered her and her two calves against the creek. I startled her, and she charged."
The moose immediately rushed Dietz. Thinking fast on his feet, he fired two shots in front of the moose. He hoped that he would have scared her away. However, that didn't seem to faze the animal.
Moose Charges Hunter
"My first shot in front of her at the ground was about 18 yards, and she didn't flinch," the hunter siad. "My second shot to the ground in front of her was about 10 yards away from me. But it had no effect. When I fired my last round, she was tackling me. She was right on top of me. My gun barrel was only six inches from the top of her head when I fired that last load at her skull."
Dietz said that he ended up shooting the moose in the head. It turn and fled with her two calves. Somehow, the hunter avoided any serious injuries other than some scrapes and bruises. "I felt like I'd been body slammed by an NFL linebacker," said Dietz. "A week after the attack and I'm still hurting."
Currently, authorities haven't been able to track down the animal. However, it's a good sign that she was nursing. "It's a tricky proposition with moose in spring," IDFG spokesperson Jennifer Jackson explained. "We want to keep our distance because she has calves and we don't want to stress her, and perhaps orphan her young."
Dietz has one regret.
"Thinking about it all now, if I'd shot directly at her with my first round at 18 yards, that might have made her turn away sooner," The hunter said. "It might have saved both of us some pain."
