01-29-2011, 09:56 PM
poor moose.
Jan. 29, 2011
HAMMOND TOWNSHIP, Maine — A Limerick man died Friday afternoon when his snowmobile struck a bull moose on a snowmobile trail west of Houlton.
Leon Botting Sr., 51, had apparently been traveling at a high rate of speed when the approximately 2 p.m. collision occurred on Shaw Camp Trail, according to a Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife press release.
When Botting’s friends Brian Nickerson, 53, of Houlton and Mike Britton, 40, of New Limerick, who had been snowmobiling ahead of Botting on the trail, discovered Botting was not behind them, they went back to find him, according to Sgt. Dan Menard who investigated the accident.
Both Botting and the moose were thrown off the trail and both died, according to the press release.
Menard said Saturday that wardens respond to one or two moose-snowmobile accidents each winter. Snowmobilers should be wary while on the trails, especially if they see lots of animals tracks in an area because that means the animals are staying in that location, especially if the snow is deep, he said.
“If you’re looking around and you see tracks in the daytime, then they are probably not very far from that location,” he noted.
Animals do use the snowmobile trails to travel on because it’s easier walking or they use them to avoid predators, Menard said. The moose came across the trail and Botting was unable to stop because of his alleged high speed, he said. Menard said the moderately sized moose weighed 500 to 700 pounds.
“‘You just have to remember you don’t have any protection [on a snowmobile]. It’s not like a car, you don’t have a safety bag or an air bag, all you have is a helmet, and that helmet isn’t going to protect when you’re going too fast,” Menard said. Botting was wearing a helmet, he said.
Jan. 29, 2011
HAMMOND TOWNSHIP, Maine — A Limerick man died Friday afternoon when his snowmobile struck a bull moose on a snowmobile trail west of Houlton.
Leon Botting Sr., 51, had apparently been traveling at a high rate of speed when the approximately 2 p.m. collision occurred on Shaw Camp Trail, according to a Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife press release.
When Botting’s friends Brian Nickerson, 53, of Houlton and Mike Britton, 40, of New Limerick, who had been snowmobiling ahead of Botting on the trail, discovered Botting was not behind them, they went back to find him, according to Sgt. Dan Menard who investigated the accident.
Both Botting and the moose were thrown off the trail and both died, according to the press release.
Menard said Saturday that wardens respond to one or two moose-snowmobile accidents each winter. Snowmobilers should be wary while on the trails, especially if they see lots of animals tracks in an area because that means the animals are staying in that location, especially if the snow is deep, he said.
“If you’re looking around and you see tracks in the daytime, then they are probably not very far from that location,” he noted.
Animals do use the snowmobile trails to travel on because it’s easier walking or they use them to avoid predators, Menard said. The moose came across the trail and Botting was unable to stop because of his alleged high speed, he said. Menard said the moderately sized moose weighed 500 to 700 pounds.
“‘You just have to remember you don’t have any protection [on a snowmobile]. It’s not like a car, you don’t have a safety bag or an air bag, all you have is a helmet, and that helmet isn’t going to protect when you’re going too fast,” Menard said. Botting was wearing a helmet, he said.