When a group of boaters stopped by the store at Pactola Pines Marina last weekend to say they had seen a moose, owner Dave Fisher asked a reasonable question: "Was there a little squirrel with it, too?"

This was no Rocky and Bullwinkle story, however. It was the real thing.

"Absolutely, no doubt, it was a moose," Fisher said Tuesday. "It was pretty cool."

It was pretty busy, too, that moose. Sightings began early in the day Saturday near Silver City west of Pactola Reservoir and at the tail end of the lake. By late afternoon, the young bull moose was amazing boaters as it tromped and paddled around near the face of Pactola Dam.

Guy Meiron was one of many Pactola visitors who saw the moose. He even watched it take part in a brief foot race with a Great Dane named Abby.

Meiron was one of nine people in a pontoon owned by Keith and Jamie Bracht. They motored to the northeast shore of the reservoir to check out reports of the moose. They saw it on shore, and Jamie left the pontoon and went on shore to snap some pictures. That's when the family's Great Dane, Abby, went charging up the shore after the moose.

"That dog took off after that moose. Then, I think the moose started thinking, 'What am I running for?'" Meiron said. "Next thing, the dog came running down the hill as fast as it could and dove in the water, and the moose was right on its tail."

Keith Bracht said Abby usually isn't at all interested in getting wet. But it obviously seemed like a better option than getting trampled.

"The moose kind of went around a hill with Abby after it, and next thing I knew, she was coming around that hill heading for the water with that moose right behind her," Bracht said. "She's not a swimmer. But when it came right down to it, she had to. She hit the water on one side (of the pontoon) and the moose went in on the other. We were just amazed by it all. And she was pretty lucky."

After settling the war of wills with the canine, the moose went for a swim, scrambled up on shore nearby and disappeared in the trees. Where it is now is anybody's guess, state Game, Fish & Parks Department regional supervisor Mike Kintigh of Rapid City said.

"He's welcome to be in the Black Hills," Kintigh said. "I wish I knew where he was headed. Right now, we're just going to monitor him, if we can."

Kintigh and other GF&P wildlife experts think the Pactola moose is probably the same one that turned up in Custer State Park in early July. It spent a little time along the popular Wildlife Loop Road, wandered a bit along Highway 16A near the Coolidge Store and posed for photographs near Lover's Leap by the State Game Lodge.

Then it settled in for a while along French Creek below Stockade Lake. It was last seen in that area about a month ago, Kintigh said.

"It hung out there for a number of days, or weeks, really," he said. "It seemed content. But then it took off wandering again."

Moose are occasional visitors to the Black Hills and other parts of the state. But there isn't a resident population here, as there are in Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota and North Dakota.

In September of 2003, a young bull moose wandered along Nemo Road and into west Rapid City. GF&P officers eventually shot and killed the moose, prompted outrage from some city residents.

Kintigh said he is hoping the latest visiting moose, which likely weighs about 800 pounds, stays out of town. But if it does take a municipal turn in its travels, it's unlikely to be shot and killed, he said.

"I would say we've learned from the last time," Kintigh said. "If it comes into Rapid City, we may be forced to do something. But we're not going to employ lethal means."

Tranquilizing and transporting animals that big is an imperfect and even dangerous process, and one GF&P officers would like to avoid. So far, the moose has avoided urban areas. Kintigh hopes that continues.

Meanwhile, people who see the moose should enjoy the unusual opportunity but also keep their distance, he said.

"There's lots of documentation of moose trampling or goring people," Kintigh said. "They can be ornery."

Just ask that Great Dane.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com