I did encounter one very large bull one afternoon in my back pasture when we both came of of the woods at the same time, and less than 250 feet apart. He looked straight at me – I looked straight at him, as the hair on the back of my went went straight up! But having neither my gun nor my camera, I did a very hasty retreat back into the shelter of the woods. I will say, that later on, I went back and measured between the trees where he had stood, related to the spread of his rack. It measured well over 7 feet across, which far exceeds any known rack width of record.

If anyone would like to see lots of footage of moose, even some that are partially white, I have it. All recorded by myself on my land.

Maybe I’ll YouTube it some day!

Moose were thin in population density in the late 1800’s both in New Hampshire and Maine. Their appearance, although perhaps not unexpected, was not overly common.

The most likely scenario is still of “tall tales” of large moose, mixed with actual sightings of an alibino or white coloration. This creating a regional mythology from the region, an “urban legend”.

Craig Heinselman
Peterborough, NH

Interesting tales, and I’m particularly struck by the 2 accounts of it picking up weapons, as if to keep them from being used. Probably spurious tall tales, as others have mentioned, but quite intriguing if true.

It is believed by many people that there were still animals from the Pleistocene living as late as into the late 1800’s. Some of the animal life that lived in this time period does still exist, for example the musk ox. Genetic echoes of Pleistocene animals can be seen in the wooly rhino found in Borneo recently. It is likely that, perhaps not a true Megaloceros of pure blood line survived, but maybe a cross breed of Megaloceros-Moose, or a running lineage of these genetics was still alive and well up into the late 19th century, early 20th century. This synopsis is plausible due to the fact of the Pleistocene starting around 1.8 million years ago and ending only 10,000 years ago, a mere blink in evolutionary history.

The reported cases of people shooting the animal in which they saw and it not dieing is not uncommon in moose hunting as the attitude when such a large animal is seen is “its as big as the side of a barn, how can I miss?” This in any hunting situation is a foolish mind set as the most important aspect of taking an animal is shot placement. Also, another explanation of this “I shot it and it did not die” scenario was the weapons and ammunition commonly used in hunting in the area at the time of the accounts were not quite up to snuff. I have read and seen many videos where it has taken several shots from a rifle in calibers such as 300 Magnum and 7mm Magnum (high-power belted magnum rifles) to bring down a regular sized moose. I could very easily see where an animal of even slightly larger proportions would be able to run off and survive a shot from an “ancient” muzzleloader or a lower power black powder cartridge (as common in this era). These types of firearms and ammo probably would not penetrate into the vitals and kill a moose sized animal with poor shot placement. As far as the moose being hung overnight with its throat cut, not likely in any hunting scenario. Any hunter who just shot an animal that was that much of a trophy would not leave it to the mercy of the bears and other scavengers of the area, that tall tale was doomed from the first line.

My understanding is that efforts have been made to breed to the pure aurochs bloodline. I’d be all for reintroducing those animals wherever it would make sense.

As to moose: humans turn out giants from time to time. Why not other critters? It doesn’t have to be a species. A genetic freak works too.

But I think the sasquatch is a LOT more likely.