If someone does something particularly stupid like spending hours and hours scrolling over source code to find a connection bug when their network cable is unplugged the whole time, that person just earned the moose.

Often one awards the moose to themselves. A statement like “Who has the fucking moose? Give that bitch to me.” is a pretty good indication that someone has just solved such a boner.

This tradition comes from @dev_null's past where he began to give this stuffed moose to anyone who did something stupid and then the other developers ran with it and developed the moose culture. One who had the moose had to keep it on top of their monitor and got to explain to everyone who asked WHY they have a moose on their monitor.