This question may be better suited to a hunting forum, but alas I know of none, so hopefully someone here can give me insight.
We're going to be hiking in western Newfoundland in a week. I would expect the moose to be starting to rut. Big bull moose with raging hormones.
Actually its still quite early for full on rut - I usually
don't see that here until the first week or two of october, so
you may find you're ok. They'll be thinking about it, but not exceptionally stupid yet.
Is there a strategy one should follow if an encounter takes place. There will be no big trees to hide behind. The terrain will be more akin to tundra with low dense Tuckamore and Alders.
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hold still and keep your distance, they have really crappy eyesight, and an incredible sense of hearing and smell. Stay upwind if possible, once they know you're a person they'll vamoose. (heh..)
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Is bear spray effective? Is noise effective? What should one do to avoid becoming moose meat, so to speak?
bear spray, I doubt it.
noise - just make your regular talking going through the bush. Don't try to make loud whoops or noises like you might to warn something off (moose make loud challenging grunts and bellows) If you have someone looking at you aggressively try to get out of vision, or drop to ground, they're only aggressive against big things (like themselves) or things that make big noise (like themselves). Competing bulls who want to steal their ladies don't disappear behind alders. They have really crappy vision, but good hearing and a sense of smell.
Personally I'd not be too afraid of a bull in rut, they're dumb as posts, but only generally aggressive with other moose. Be far more concerned about a cow with a young calf. Cows with a calf will be *aggressive* and will use hooves as axes.. They kill wolves and will stand up to bears. To be honest I am much more "cautious" about a cow moose or cow elk with a calf than just about anything else.
Having spent about 27 years in the bush every fall looking for moose in rut, I've never had or been with anyone who had an aggresive bull come *after* them. You can get them to come up to you curious like, because they are kind of dumber than posts during the rut, but I've only ever seen them be aggressive against other things as big (or bigger) than a moose. The usual result when walking is they smell you or discern you as a person and take off, or suffer a sudden 7.62 mm brain hemmorage..
Of course if you can get a moose tag, they're mighty tasty... if a lot of work to get out of the bush
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