Smoked a Moose

[Maximus Gladius]

Glad you are OK. Actually, that does not look bad considering you hit a moose! Must have just clipped them.

A quip I have heard (paraphrased)...
"Hit a deer, insurance claim. Hit an elk, hospital visit. Hit a moose, morgue."

Yeah and that suggestion about the loop on the bumper: maybe it would work for dogs or deer but it would be useless for elk or moose. The animal's body is going to be at or above your hood line. (Vehicle dependent)

Ditto on cattle, breed dependent. I used to drive NV375 at night occasionally. It can be a terror ride. Open range. Angus cattle.

Moose are tall and lanky especially seeing them try to run on a paved surface. This thing got up to speed from the farmers field and he was timing his high speed crossing when the first vehicle passed …then, like Thor’s hammer coming down on both of us…

I met an Elk on the highway when it was pitch dark out, 7am October 2020 and it came running in the same fashion like this moose did and I was driving a 17 Tacoma Sport TRD and hit it travelling at 100k/hour too.. air bags did NOT deploy, I was holding my coffee and didn’t feel a thing, didn’t spill a drop! Walked from it too.

(I swear I will never drive at night again on wildlife infested highways again!!)

Windshields need to have some night vision ability to warn night time drivers of animals on or near the road as a safety feature.

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[Maximus Gladius]

That Tacoma/Elk crash was a write off. The adjuster said damages were over $30k cad.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

I can’t see the damages on my JTR being less

 

[Zsis]

No pic of the moose!

 

[WestwallNF104A]

Trying again!
I went for a late night highway drive to do some northern lights photography at a dark sky zone a couple hours south of Calgary at about 8:50pm, would arrive to location at 10pm. Got half way there when I passed a car and all of a sudden a moose ran out from behind running full throttle right across my path. I impacted and air bag deployed, smoke filled the cab and I was assuming fire had started but it was just the air bag smoking.

The hood shot up and covered the windshield and I slammed on my brakes! Was quite traumatic.

Today, lots of calls to the insurance and had to file my police report. Now waiting for the insurance adjuster to settle up damage costs and see if it’s a write off.

Glad you're ok, I'm impressed by how well the gladiator took that hit! Friend of mine hit a cow in his Tundra a couple of weeks ago, took out his hood, right front quarter, and dented the rear quarter. 14,000 in repairs.

Cow walked away!

 

[Mr Miami]

I had one accident in a Jeep in my '84 Wrangler and it was about 5 years old at the time. It was nowhere nearly as bad as hitting the moose but the insurance adjuster actually asked me if I wanted it fixed (about 7k in damages) or totaled. He said he could easily write it up as totaled since there is a lot more to go wrong with Jeeps and bent frames, transfer cases, etc. He said the company (State Farm) prefers to total them since unseen stuff can become apparent shortly after it is "fixed" and they are still on the hook for the problems later.

 

[Badunit]

I went for a late night highway drive to do some northern lights photography at a dark sky zone a couple hours south of Calgary at about 8:50pm, would arrive to location at 10pm. Got half way there when I passed a car and all of a sudden a moose ran out from behind running full throttle right across my path. I impacted and air bag deployed, smoke filled the cab and I was assuming fire had started but it was just the air bag smoking.

The hood shot up and covered the windshield and I slammed on my brakes! Was quite traumatic.

Today, lots of calls to the insurance and had to file my police report. Now waiting for the insurance adjuster to settle up damage costs and see if it’s a write off.

Moose's perspective:
I went out for a late night walk beside the highway, hoping to see the northern lights. One of those infernal metal beasts came flying by right as I was going to cross. After it passed, I started across and, wouldn't you know it, another one was coming from the other direction at full throttle right across my path. It hit me before I could slam on my brakes. I shot up and landed hard. It was quite traumatic. I think I'm gonna die; you can write me off.

 

[legacy_etu]

Glad you made it out ok. I assume it was somewhat of a glancing blow, the damage doesn"t look as bad as I was expecting. That being said, I'd be doing everything in my power to get insurance to total it.

You can get "night vision" in the Grand Cherokee's if you were serious.

I remember driving in Nova Scotia one time with my Great Aunt. She was pretty old but still drove.....and drove like a bat out of hell everywhere. She would fly down these country roads with lousy visibility due to fog and darkness. I can recall missing 2 deer on the side of the road as she hauled past. Looked like they were both about to jump, she never lifted, LOL. Then we rounded a corner and everyone in the car gasped, then I hear a bang and felt a thumping under the floorboards. I yelled what was that? Everyone in the car replied, well it WAS a raccoon. She didn't lift for that either. Last time I rode with her....at least at night. I was 13. She was nuts.

 

[rharr]

it's only money, there are a few motorcycle people i know run thermal cameras to detect animals and parked cops at night.

https://getnightride.com/products/trailblazer-640-grille-mount-analog

 

[Splenda]

Dang, you have some bad luck. Glad you're alright!

 

[Mightytalldude]

Dang, glad everyone is safe. Sorry about your loss of your JT. Best color.

Insurance people are a pain to work with, especially if the accident is claimed on your policy, as they'll do everything to give you rock bottom price for it. Get all add-on items itemized with receipts to get anything not factory optioned added to the vehicle appraisal, and or remove as much as you can salvage of add-ons. I'm dealing with insurance currently with my daughters vehicle loss. Challenge them on their comp vehicles to make sure they are dealing apples to apples on trim. Guarantee they'll throw in a lower model for comps for a broader range of low to high pricing. Whatever caring things the agent says over the phone about helping you through this, they are just blowing smoke up your butt and don't really care, they just want you to take the low payout, buy another higher priced vehicle and get more money out of you for it. Insurance is only helpful when it's someone else's policy and then they'll get you the highest payout possible.

Sorry, don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer, but people suck in general, it's a business of making money, and you're taking some of that money, so they want more money in return.

 

[Mr Miami]

I'm sorry but every time I start to comment on this thread "Smoked a Moose" my mind goes back to my college days in the late 70's - early 80's.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

I'm sorry but every time I start to comment on this thread "Smoked a Moose" my mind goes back to my college days in the late 70's - early 80's.

Hahaha! I know, right! As I was coming up with the title, I thought of Cheech and Chong and allllll you members that would think the same thing… but then there’s probably a much smaller population that was thinking making jerky in some big ass commercial smoker.

 

[Free2roam]

All I really heard was smoked a moose. I'm like count me in! Smoked moose has got to be good!
But seriously glad y'all ok

 

[Rusty PW]

Glad you are ok. Could have been a lot worse. Time to start shopping for a new Gladiator.

Years ago I worked with a field service rep when I was at Elliott. He was going from one job to another at 3am on some back county road in Maine. He hit a moose in the middle of nowhere. He had to walk back about 3 miles to the last house he seen with a light on. He spent over 2 months in the hospital.

I hit a cow with a motorcycle in 1975 at night on a back country road. I limped away from that one.

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