spacemanspiff
Senior Member
http://www.adn.com/front/story/4870148p-4805649c.html.
Michael Vogel feared for his life a year ago, when a moose charged him on the Coastal Trail and stomped on his face, temporarily blinding him and smashing several bones.
So after doctors put him back together, he began carrying a gun to protect himself on his daily runs or skis.
Wednesday night, Vogel met another moose trotting toward him at close range while he was skiing on the Coastal Trail in Kincaid Park, about a mile below the chalet.
This time, Vogel pulled a .44-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver from his fanny pack and shot it.
The moose was injured and backed away. About two hours later, state Fish and Game biologist Rick Sinnott tracked blood spatters down the trail and into the woods and found the moose lying about 45 yards from the site of the shooting. Sinnott killed her with a shotgun slug.
Sinnott was critical of Vogel's decision to shoot a moose in one of the city's most used parks. Pepper spray would work, he said. "It's a lot cheaper than a gun too."
The moose was one that had been collared last winter, and she spent most of her time in Kincaid, Sinnott said. "We approached her many times. She was a reliably calm moose."
"If Mike saw her 25 yards ahead, he had lots of room to ski off trail around her," Sinnott said in an e-mail to the Daily News. "When she stood up and started walking toward him, he had time to turn around and retreat down the trail."
The dog probably complicated matters, Sinnott said.
Vogel said Friday that there had been no time and nowhere to go.
He had come down the hill from the chalet and was in the flat area between miles 8 and 8.5 on the trail, Vogel said.
At first it seemed like this encounter might be benign. Vogel saw the moose bedded down on the trail about 30 yards away. He stopped and put his Chesapeake Bay retriever, Katmai, who was off-leash, on heel at his side, he said.
The moose stood up and initially started to walk away. But it changed its mind, turned and began trotting toward him, Vogel said. "Then it pinned its ears back, lowered its head and commenced to charge."
The snow off to the side was too soft to ski on, he said, so he couldn't get off the trail. He didn't want to turn his back on the moose and retreat that way.
"When the moose was about seven yards away, I shot. Things are happening fast. I fired a second time."
After the second shot, the moose stopped, and Vogel pondered what to do next. Since the moose was no longer threatening, he decided to go back to the chalet and report what happened, he said.
Police came before Sinnott got there and interviewed Vogel, who had a proper permit to carry the gun, a police spokesman said. The police report says Vogel "stated he had a ski plan and never thought about turning around on the trail."
Vogel said he doesn't know where that idea came from. He told police that his plan was to go from the chalet to Point Woronzof, he said. As for turning around, "You are not wise to turn your back to a threat."
Sinnott described this moose as relaxed in past encounters. Vogel said that wasn't the case Wednesday.
"This was just an extremely aggressive animal that obviously had no fear of humans," Vogel said. He could think of no reason to explain why the moose charged.
The first time he was attacked by a moose, in March 2003, Vogel figures he startled the animal, and that's why it came after him. "All of a sudden I was there and it was a big surprise," he said. That incident took place where the trail crosses a creek at the end of the east-west runway of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The moose was browsing near the trail, with a smaller moose a little deeper in. Vogel was running. Since the big moose gave no signs of being bothered, he tried to run by, on the other side of the trail. It ran at him, knocked him over and kicked him in the face.
Seven bones in Vogel's face broke. At the time, he was blinded in one eye and struggled to cover the 2 ½ miles to the chalet. Later, he learned the moose had kicked his temple into his eye. It took $22,000 worth of surgery, in which doctors rebuilt the bone structure around Vogel's eye with titanium, to repair the damage, he said.
Vogel, a 47-year-old chemist, is outside doing some form of exercise nearly every day, he said.
After he recovered from the 2003 attack, he talked to someone at Fish and Game to find out what he could legally do to protect himself.
It is illegal to fire a gun within city limits except in defense of your property or self, a police spokesman said. It is also illegal to allow a dog to be off-leash in Kincaid, but Vogel said his dog is highly trained, did not bark and stayed at his side.
Many skiers can recount scary encounters with moose. "I don't want to criticize anybody in this situation," said Tim Stone, a Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage board member, after being told about the incident. "Anybody skiing lately has noticed the moose are sticking close to the trails the last couple of weeks because it's deep."
Stone said he's been charged but has been able to ski away. "Usually it's kind of a false charge and they stop."
Skier Tasha Bergt was at the Kincaid chalet shortly after Vogel shot at the moose Wednesday night.
"It doesn't make me feel that good to have a guy that volatile with a handgun down there," she said. "I mean it's a city park. I'm so upset. ... We don't carry weapons on the trail; we carry our brains."
Vogel says Fish and Game should get out there and manage the problem. There could be a hunting season, or Fish and Game officers could shoot some of the moose, he said.
"Anchorage is a city, not a wildlife theme park. Citizens should be able to go to the park without fear of bodily injury."
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sounds to me like a 'once bitten twice shy' kind of thing.
when i walk to work or home, i encounter moose all the time. and each time i fill my palm. they are unpredictable.
when rollerblading on the same trail Vogel was skiing on (during summer obviously) i've come across 8 moose in a one mile section, one bull, three cows and four calfs. even during summer they stick close to the trails.
and as far as what tasha bergt has to say, about 'we dont carry weapons we carry brains', i'm sure carrying brains while on the coastal trail instead of weapons has been a contributing factor in all the rapes attempted on users of those bike/ski trails.
Michael Vogel feared for his life a year ago, when a moose charged him on the Coastal Trail and stomped on his face, temporarily blinding him and smashing several bones.
So after doctors put him back together, he began carrying a gun to protect himself on his daily runs or skis.
Wednesday night, Vogel met another moose trotting toward him at close range while he was skiing on the Coastal Trail in Kincaid Park, about a mile below the chalet.
This time, Vogel pulled a .44-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver from his fanny pack and shot it.
The moose was injured and backed away. About two hours later, state Fish and Game biologist Rick Sinnott tracked blood spatters down the trail and into the woods and found the moose lying about 45 yards from the site of the shooting. Sinnott killed her with a shotgun slug.
Sinnott was critical of Vogel's decision to shoot a moose in one of the city's most used parks. Pepper spray would work, he said. "It's a lot cheaper than a gun too."
The moose was one that had been collared last winter, and she spent most of her time in Kincaid, Sinnott said. "We approached her many times. She was a reliably calm moose."
"If Mike saw her 25 yards ahead, he had lots of room to ski off trail around her," Sinnott said in an e-mail to the Daily News. "When she stood up and started walking toward him, he had time to turn around and retreat down the trail."
The dog probably complicated matters, Sinnott said.
Vogel said Friday that there had been no time and nowhere to go.
He had come down the hill from the chalet and was in the flat area between miles 8 and 8.5 on the trail, Vogel said.
At first it seemed like this encounter might be benign. Vogel saw the moose bedded down on the trail about 30 yards away. He stopped and put his Chesapeake Bay retriever, Katmai, who was off-leash, on heel at his side, he said.
The moose stood up and initially started to walk away. But it changed its mind, turned and began trotting toward him, Vogel said. "Then it pinned its ears back, lowered its head and commenced to charge."
The snow off to the side was too soft to ski on, he said, so he couldn't get off the trail. He didn't want to turn his back on the moose and retreat that way.
"When the moose was about seven yards away, I shot. Things are happening fast. I fired a second time."
After the second shot, the moose stopped, and Vogel pondered what to do next. Since the moose was no longer threatening, he decided to go back to the chalet and report what happened, he said.
Police came before Sinnott got there and interviewed Vogel, who had a proper permit to carry the gun, a police spokesman said. The police report says Vogel "stated he had a ski plan and never thought about turning around on the trail."
Vogel said he doesn't know where that idea came from. He told police that his plan was to go from the chalet to Point Woronzof, he said. As for turning around, "You are not wise to turn your back to a threat."
Sinnott described this moose as relaxed in past encounters. Vogel said that wasn't the case Wednesday.
"This was just an extremely aggressive animal that obviously had no fear of humans," Vogel said. He could think of no reason to explain why the moose charged.
The first time he was attacked by a moose, in March 2003, Vogel figures he startled the animal, and that's why it came after him. "All of a sudden I was there and it was a big surprise," he said. That incident took place where the trail crosses a creek at the end of the east-west runway of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The moose was browsing near the trail, with a smaller moose a little deeper in. Vogel was running. Since the big moose gave no signs of being bothered, he tried to run by, on the other side of the trail. It ran at him, knocked him over and kicked him in the face.
Seven bones in Vogel's face broke. At the time, he was blinded in one eye and struggled to cover the 2 ½ miles to the chalet. Later, he learned the moose had kicked his temple into his eye. It took $22,000 worth of surgery, in which doctors rebuilt the bone structure around Vogel's eye with titanium, to repair the damage, he said.
Vogel, a 47-year-old chemist, is outside doing some form of exercise nearly every day, he said.
After he recovered from the 2003 attack, he talked to someone at Fish and Game to find out what he could legally do to protect himself.
It is illegal to fire a gun within city limits except in defense of your property or self, a police spokesman said. It is also illegal to allow a dog to be off-leash in Kincaid, but Vogel said his dog is highly trained, did not bark and stayed at his side.
Many skiers can recount scary encounters with moose. "I don't want to criticize anybody in this situation," said Tim Stone, a Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage board member, after being told about the incident. "Anybody skiing lately has noticed the moose are sticking close to the trails the last couple of weeks because it's deep."
Stone said he's been charged but has been able to ski away. "Usually it's kind of a false charge and they stop."
Skier Tasha Bergt was at the Kincaid chalet shortly after Vogel shot at the moose Wednesday night.
"It doesn't make me feel that good to have a guy that volatile with a handgun down there," she said. "I mean it's a city park. I'm so upset. ... We don't carry weapons on the trail; we carry our brains."
Vogel says Fish and Game should get out there and manage the problem. There could be a hunting season, or Fish and Game officers could shoot some of the moose, he said.
"Anchorage is a city, not a wildlife theme park. Citizens should be able to go to the park without fear of bodily injury."
=================================
sounds to me like a 'once bitten twice shy' kind of thing.
when i walk to work or home, i encounter moose all the time. and each time i fill my palm. they are unpredictable.
when rollerblading on the same trail Vogel was skiing on (during summer obviously) i've come across 8 moose in a one mile section, one bull, three cows and four calfs. even during summer they stick close to the trails.
and as far as what tasha bergt has to say, about 'we dont carry weapons we carry brains', i'm sure carrying brains while on the coastal trail instead of weapons has been a contributing factor in all the rapes attempted on users of those bike/ski trails.
