Not all heroes wear capes. Last Friday evening, Utah hunting guide Dave Beronio rescued a moose calf after he discovered it tangled up in wiring in the Uinta Mountains.
On top of that, the calf’s mother was watching, and she wasn’t very happy with Beronio’s presence.
Beronio wrote in an Instagram post:
“They never survive this situation. Luckily, we found it in time in. A 20 minute ordeal with a hurt calf, a mad momma, and a small bull who wouldn’t leave mom alone.
Mom finally calmed down enough and just watched (from too close most of the time) but I believe she knew we were there to help. This calf had been laying there so long that it took about 10 minutes of rubbing and patting to stimulate it enough to stand. A life saved!”
In the video, you can see the calf lying in the barbed wire fencing, almost lifeless until Beronio starts to untangle it. Then, you can hear the pissed off mother approach, and the camera shows the creature walking directly towards them.
He then grabs an axe and finishes off the job, prying the calf free as the mother still watches on in anger. After awhile of sitting, the calf is able to get back up on all fours and reunite with its mother.
Beronio told Outdoor Life:
“We were going out to an area where we were going to glass for elk, and I see a cow moose with a very small bull. So I stop the truck to give the client a chance to see a moose up close.
When we stopped, they were only 30 yards away from the truck. And the mom was watching us, but she wouldn’t move.
When I looked over the hood, I saw the body of the calf laying under this fence. He had been in my blind spot. And I realized that was why mom was standing right there and not moving.”
He also discussed how he had to keep the mother from attacking him:
“Mom had jumped the fence and, at one point, she came running down the road at me and stopped. I chased her off two or three times and went right at her, trying to spook her off, but then one time she put her ears down and came in a little too close.
I know they can catch some speed pretty quick and they can do some damage and kill people, so I was trying to take that into consideration. I told my client to get behind the door of the vehicle, just to be in a safe place.”
Needless to say, it was a win win for everybody involved in the situation.