Drone pilot videos bull moose’s rare double-antler head-bang snap

If only haircuts were as exciting. When bull moose crave a more light-headed feeling each winter, they rid themselves of their weighty antlers with a sudden, mighty shake of the noggin that snaps them right off – an entirely unpredictable gesture performed deep in the wild that a Canadian drone pilot with impeccable timing somehow managed to capture on video.

Derek Burgoyne has a thing about moose antlers that motivates him into the frozen forests of New Brunswick in the dead of winter to search for the over-sized members of the deer family – or at least come across remains of their discarded headgear for his collection. But in addition to being a tad weird that way, Burgoyne also proved himself incredibly lucky when on a recent outing he decided to begin recording from the drone he uses to locate bull moose at the very moment one of the creatures snapped both its horns off at once with a couple abrupt shakes.

Burgoyne says he was out snowshoeing around the forest on January 12 when he filmed the rare event. Not only do the animals usually rid themselves of their antlers earlier in winter, but they tend to ditch them individually, sometimes hours or days apart, which is why there is no shortage of footage showing the creatures heave-going their skull protrusions one at a time, virtually never in pairs.

Burgoyne, however, not only found a bull moose still sporting both antlers this deep into winter, but got to witness it snapping its antlers off at the same time – and immortalized the sight on his drone video to boot.

In the online footage Burgoyne uploaded this week, he explains he’d used his drone to locate three bull moose hunkered down under the snow, two of which had already discarded their horns – or shed them, in the parlance of antler collectors.

“I spotted this bull with my drone, and he was bedded with two other bulls that were already shedded,” he explains. “I clicked record, luckily. He jumped up out of his bed and ran over about one trail and shook himself, and both antlers fell off while I was recording with my drone. This is crazy.”

After the bull moose had run off, Burgoyne filmed himself trudging over to the spot of the drama to locate and collect his prize, leading him to express his earnest (albeit somewhat icky) excitement over coming into such a “fresh set of antlers.” In this case, the pair had 17 points total, and were hailed as a major accomplishment and prize for a practitioner of the activity.

“This will be a moment I will never forget!!” the text accompanying his Youtube video says. “I feel very fortunate to have this once in a lifetime moment and record this extremely rare footage!!”

If Burgoyne’s hobby may strike some as a little peculiar, his enthusiasm for both it and the rare bull moose feat his drone video captured proved infectious, drawing nearly 100,000 views in barely a week. 

“What incredible timing. Once in a lifetime. Great job Dude!” enthused one commenter.

“I’ve gone out to try and spot moose with my drone in the game preserve, with no luck, AND YOU GET A SHOT LIKE THAT?” concurred another. “WOW! Freaking awesome, bud!”