As the joke goes a gun is better than a camera:
I don’t know enough about moose to known if it was sick or just mad with the rut. I do know that just about all my relatives in Northern Maine have moose attack stories. You don’t hear many stories of people actually getting killed, but they’re HUGE so it doesn’t take much.
Carry your damn guns, they aren’t just for two-legged predators. Also if there are BIG dangerous animals in your area you might want to consider what the gun you’re carrying might do if you get attacked by a REALLY big critter.
Some talk on dangerous game carry guns here.
During the rut, moose will charge anything that they might consider to be a rival.
Including aircraft.
One that insisted on chasing piper cubs in Kenai was shot, and carried into a hanger by a forklift, hanging upside down with the lift tines through the gambrels. My wife ( a girl at the time ) and all of her other female relatives made that moose disappear into white paper wrapped packages in short order.
Mmmmmm Moose meat is one of the best meats on the planet!
My Dad’s best story is getting tossed onto the roof of a woodshed as a child when a bull in rut charged him and my Grandfather while they were working in their yard in the Maine North Woods.