Moose on the Loose

[dedgren]

Little did I know that, the other day when I posted a pic in 3RR of some moose I saw out on the Palmer Hay Flats near my house, folks would be so interested in the big brown furry creatures [linkie].  Here's that pic again.



It was pretty blurry 'cos they were a ways from the highway.  This is Alaska, though, and if you want to see a moose up close and personal, wait around a bit- at least this time of year.

My sweetie (who happens to be also be my wife) and I went a few miles from our house to a cabin near the Talkeetna Mountains for the night yesterday.  I heard a noise out the door early this morning and poked my head outside and, what did I see but



what I first thought was a little cow (female- I know, I know- "cow moose" sounds ridiculous- you'll have to take that up with the wildlife biology crowd) moose browsing.  Then I saw what some call the "bell," and others call the "wattle" under the neck, and realized it was a young male that had apparently recently shed its antlers, which happens annually after mating season.



It was early and dark and cold, and Mr. Moose moved off into the woods as I went back inside.  A bit later, though, we spotted him again, this time down the hill below the deck.



You can see the bell clearly in this pic- it looks like a fifth leg just below where you'd imagine the ears to be (the light's really tricky for pics in Alaska this time of the year).



Heh!  Must have heard me- up go the ears.



Yep- he knows I'm looking at him.  Folks have found out to their chagrin, though, that gaining the attention of a moose is not a good thing.  I'll display a species-centric point of view and say that moose are pretty dim, animal-wise.  I mean, your dog doesn't come and trample you when you call out "sit down" or "roll over."

Uh-oh, our friend is moving...



This guy's about 30 feet away.  They might be big and clumsy-looking, but they climb hills like they aren't even there.

And now we see what's up.



Another moose has entered the area.



I got one shot of Moose #2 (not the greatest focus-wise, unfortunately) before both turned and left the area.  He still has last years antlers on (mating season didn't go well, perhaps?  Ahhh, better luck next year).

So, that's it for moose viewing here at SC4D today.  I'll keep you posted on further interesting sightings.  DE

[Fledder200]

  wow....amazing pic's!!! 
the closest thin to wild life i get to see.....are birds in the tree.....oh and bugs!
But this is amazing!!! i love the snow btw...haven't seen that in a while!
wow...just wow!!

[dioangel]

Wow that's pretty cool! Never seen a moose before!  oh by the way.. Congrats on being the bsc team! 

[beskhu3epnm]

I routinely encounter Moose in my occupation (Conservation Officer, aka Game Warden). I'm in Northern Ontario, Canada, and they are fairly plentiful.

Most times I run into them, unfortunately, they have passed as a result of some hunter hiding behind his .308.

Anyways, wicked photos!

Yeah, what's with the BSC thingy? Congrats!

[Gaston]

Hey Rocky, Watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat.  [ linkie ]


---Gaston

[Giligone]

Nice pics. Unfortunately, one doesn't see much big wildlife here in Southern Ontario. How far away from them were you? What kind of camera do you have?

[dedgren]

Hey Fledder, DA (dioangel), beskhu3epnm...

...and if you think I'm going to take a stab at shortening your nic, my friend, well- let's leave it at that...

..., Gaston and Jamie (giligone), thanks for your comments.

I'm really jazzed to get to be a part of BSC- I hope I can make a meaningful contribution to that great group's work.

Jamie, my camera is a Fujifilm FinePix S602Zoom [linkie].  It's about four years old, but has been a great camera and I've been very happy with what was a "run in the camera shop and buy one" spur of the moment purchase (I needed a camera to take pictures in a case I was working on, and my trusty old Canon A-1 SLR had been stolen just a bit before).  I've been drooling over the new technology digital interchangeable lens cameras, but they're still pretty spendy to replace something that works perfectly well.

I was probably 10-15 feet from the moose in the really early morning pics, and 30-50 feet from the ones down the hill.  I was up on a deck behind a railing- I'm not kidding about the trampling part.  Bullwinkle can have a real mean streak.

Anyway, thanks for checking these pics out.


David

[Gaston]

David,
    I know this is more off-topic for this off-topic forum but my GF had a question.   She liked the fact that you saw a (2) moose.  [ linkie ]  {And the plural of moose is infact moose, BTW - remember my GF IS an English professor  LOL }   She was asking if you ever see any bears where you are at.   She is reading a mystery series written by a woman in Alaska (Sue Henry) [ linkie ] about Alaska.   In the first one she read a bear eats a guy and so she was curious.  LOL   And since you are the only person I know in Alaska, I figured I'd ask you.  LOL


---Gaston

[Rayden]

Does bears eat men? I thought that was the opposite, men eat Bears, Da Bears. Sorry AK and all Bear's fans out there, bad joke, but I couldn't miss this opportunity to joke a little with you mate

[pvarcoe]

I was mountain biking with my wife about 5 years ago in Riding Mountain National Park in central Manitoba, Canada.

We were riding through a fairly heavily forested area on a bush trail and came to a clearing at the edge of a marsh.

About 20 feet away was a full grown moose. A mother moose I'm guessing, as a child moose was with her.

Fortunately they bolted and ran in the opposite direction from us, cause they were huge. Much taller than us on our bikes.

That's as close as I have seen them, more than close enough for my taste.

btw, what do you call a baby moose? a moo?

[Giligone]

I was mountain biking with my wife about 5 years ago in Riding Mountain National Park in central Manitoba, Canada.

We were riding through a fairly heavily forested area on a bush trail and came to a clearing at the edge of a marsh.

About 20 feet away was a full grown moose. A mother moose I'm guessing, as a child moose was with her.

Fortunately they bolted and ran in the opposite direction from us, cause they were huge. Much taller than us on our bikes.

That's as close as I have seen them, more than close enough for my taste.

btw, what do you call a baby moose? a moo?

Cool story. I believe they are called 'calves'

[Rayden]

I think I prefer their European cousins



This one was taken during a reindeer excursion I made with a group of friends back in 2001. Temperature was then around -29º C (-20º F) 

[greenbelt]

Moose are such beautiful animals from afar but dangerous to get close to.  They tend to attack when the flash goes off!  Once when we were living in University of Calgary family student housing a moose wandered into our part of the campus and started attacking the parked cars.  (Luckily students, especially those with families, tend to drive junkers.  I had a 12 year old Chevette)  Anyways I guess that our beautiful southern Alberta sunshine was reflecting off of the chrome and the Moose attacked!  (Calgary is too cold for salt to be effective so gravel is used instead - hardly any rusted cars but everyone has cracked windshields) 

Moose used to be a problem at the airport too.  Now the city has grown so much that the moose don't tend to wander along the river and connecting bike paths all the way to the airport.  Even after living here for nearly 10 years I'm still homesick for Calgary.

[Vandy]

Hey, David.

There you go again, starting a thread in which we can absolutely LOVE viewing your pictures.

Thanks for the new thread.

I really enjoyed your moose pictures.  It is so AWESOME to see these creatures in the natural habitat.  Thank you for allowing us to enjoy it as well.

Regards,

Gary