RANGELEY – A New Hampshire man escaped injury Thursday morning after a female moose ran in front of the tractor-trailer he was driving up Grasshopper Hill on Route 4.

The moose weighed about 400 pounds and was killed in the 8 a.m. accident, police Chief Phil Weymouth said.

Tony Howe, 59, of Colebrook, N.H., swerved to try to avoid the moose and nearly got by it, the chief said.

The moose hit the left front corner of the truck and caused about $5,000 in damage to the 2005 rig owned by his son’s company, D.C. Trucking of New Hampshire, Weymouth said.

The moose was tagged and given away.