Hunters have to always be on their toes in the wild.

Being able to handle the unexpected can make all the difference. 

And a turkey hunter experienced the ultimate nightmare when this hunt went wrong. 

Idaho turkey hunter squares off with a moose

Rexburg, Idaho, resident Jim Dietz was looking to bag a Merriam’s wild turkey – the last subspecies he needed to complete a grand slam.

The construction worker took the day off and headed out to Blackfoot, Idaho, for a turkey hunt on one of the last days of the season.

 Dietz was hunting in thick brush near the Snake River on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land.

“It was late afternoon, and I was out enjoying the woods, walking, looking and scouting for turkeys,” Dietz told 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.”

Hidden in the brush was one of the worst-case scenarios for a hunter in the northwest. 

“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,” Dietz explained. “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’s motherly instincts to defend her young kicked in and she charged Dietz.

He fired off two shots with the hope of scaring her away.

Dietz had a 12-gauge shotgun with three rounds of number six turkey load.

“My first shot in front of her at the ground was about 18 yards, and she didn’t flinch,” Dietz recalled. “My second shot to the ground in front of her was about 10 yards away from me. But it had no effect.”

He was down to his last round with the massive moose almost on top of him.

“When I fired my last round, she was tackling me,” Dietz said. “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.”

The final shot sent the moose retreating into the brush to her calves.

Getting tackled by a moose is like getting hit by a linebacker

Dietz was banged up and bruised by the moose but managed to escape any serious injuries during the encounter.

The 6’3 263 pound turkey hunter said that he was feeling the moose’s tackle for weeks.

“I felt like I’d been body slammed by an NFL linebacker,” Dietz explained. “A week after the attack and I’m still hurting.”

Dietz said he spotted the moose about 400 yards away with a head wound that he didn’t think would be lethal.

His turkey season came to close without landing the Merriam’s to complete his grand slam.

“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,” Dietz said. “It might have saved both of us some pain.”

Moose are the second largest animal in North America behind the bison.

Any unwanted encounter with a cow ready to defend her young that a hunter can walk away from is a blessing.

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