The moose population has grown in recent years, creating the potential for more vehicle accidents involving moose. ( Enterprise photo — Heather Sackett)

SARANAC LAKE — Saranac Lake resident Sue Phelan won’t forget this most recent Friday, Nov. 13 — not because she’s superstitious but because that night she drove into a moose. Phelan was driving state Route 3 on the way from Saranac Lake to Tupper Lake shortly after sunset when the bull moose stepped in front of the Toyota Camry she was driving. “I hit his legs,” said the 60-year-old Phelan. “I think what happened is he just toppled over and landed on the car, and he hit the windshield. All I could see coming at me was this huge body of fur coming through the windshield. It scared the bejesus out of me, truthfully.” This activity is sign of the growing Adirondack moose population, which is estimated to be more than 500 but was nonexistent from the 1860s until around 1980, when moose started coming in on their own from Vermont and Canada. But it is also a sign that drivers need to be more alert on the roads.