BISMARCK, N.D. – A Bismarck man escaped serious injury after he struck a moose with his pickup.
Steve Fleckenstein, 50, was heading home from work at the Falkirk Mine around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when he hit the bull moose on U.S. Highway 83 between Baldwin and Wilton.
Burleigh County Sheriff’s Maj. Jim Hulm said the animal was a “smaller bull moose” but it still caused major damage to Fleckenstein’s pickup. The vehicle had to be towed to a body shop.
“It took me and the (responding) deputy all we had to get (the moose) off the shoulder and into the ditch,” Fleckenstein said. The sheriff’s department can issue a tag that allows a person to keep an animal killed in a vehicle crash. If the driver or no one nearby wants the carcass, deputies will call around to find a taker, Hulm said. In this case, a deputy claimed the moose.
It’s unclear how often moose-vehicle collisions occur in North Dakota. Crashes with wildlife don’t have to be reported unless the vehicle is disabled or someone is killed or hurt, according to state transportation officials.
