ND pickup driver fatally strikes moose on a highway, responding deputy harvests carcass

A Bismarck man escaped serious injury after he struck a moose with his truck.

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, the Bismarck Tribune reported Thursday.

Burleigh County Sheriff’s Maj. Jim Hulm said the animal was a “smaller bull moose” but it still caused major damage to Fleckenstein’s 2013 Chevrolet pickup. The vehicle had to be towed to a body shop.

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“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 harvest 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 instance a deputy ended up claiming 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.