Moose turns tables on hunter

GRAND BANK, N.L. — Predator turned into prey during a brawl between man and moose in Newfoundland after a gunned-down bull bounced back with a vengeance, sending its hunter to hospital in a helicopter with a hoof-shaped bruise on his forehead.

Rodney Buffett said he set out into the woods near Grand Bank on Newfoundland’s south coast Saturday with his friends and his fiancee in the hopes of getting an early start on moose-hunting season, but wound up being hunted by his game.

It all began when Buffett, an avid hunter, spotted a massive bull moose about 183 metres in the distance, he said.

Buffett sized up his target and fired two shots. The moose dropped in its tracks, he said, so he ran over to inspect the animal.

His fiancee was standing on a hill with his buddies, Buffett said, looking at the scene through a pair of binoculars. He called for them to bring him a knife — then the moose flicked its legs.

“I just thought it was the nerves going out of his body,” said Buffett. “When I turned around again, he was on his four legs running with his head down and his antlers coming after me.”

Buffett said the moose plowed into him, piercing his skin and thrashing around its 14-point antlers.

The bull tossed its head and chucked him into the air, he said. When Buffett hit the ground, he said, the moose trampled over him several times, branding him with its hooves.

The moose-man tango seemed to go on “forever,” he said, but likely lasted about five minutes.

Buffet said he grabbed the animal by the antlers and kicked him in the head. After a struggle, the moose ran off and presumably died.

Buffett’s friends ran to the road to flag down paramedics, who called for a helicopter to airlift the 38-year-old man to a hospital in St. John’s.

Buffett said his wounds were stitched and his punctured ribs were stapled, but he managed to escape serious injury.