moose

Something happened to that pic and today I happened across this:

I've been on a stretch of road that needed a sign like that! We were on vacation, traveling on a road near Vernal, Utah. It was one of those zigzag, switchback roads, and it was twilight. We were driving a rented mini-van. It was 5PM on a weekday & we had someone tailgating us, probably on his way home from work, wondering why the idiots in front of him were driving so slow. (Tourists!) Anyways, went around the corner & this GIANT moose with a full rack was standing by the side of the road. 'Bout gave me a coronary. Definitely an anxiety attack. Couldn't stop to take his picture because of tailgating car. Afterwards, all I could think about was getting to Vernal safely, and not running into a moose that size. It would be like hitting a brick wall!

Here is pic of a (different) moose we saw on the way to Grand Tetons Nat'l Park.

I've heard that if you encounter a moose in front of you on a road that the thing to do is stop and wait.  If you would like your car destroyed, you should honk your horn and the moose will gladly perform that service. 

Oh, man if I had a moose in the road in front of me, I would definitely stop and wait! I kinda got the feeling that the guy who was tailgating us (he eventually passed us) was a local, and I bet he saw moose all the time. Somehow, I doubt he would have stopped and waited for anything! After seeing the moose w/ a full rack of antlers) right next to us, all I could think about was how grateful I was that he just stood there as we went by. We had just come off of a hairpin turn, and there was no way we could have seen him up ahead. Scary & beautiful all at the same time.

moose (AKA swamp donks) are awesome animals! also a large rock when you hit them! friend of ours cousin was driving a new ford truck home from the dealer when a moose stepped out in front of him. demolished the truck!!  mostly they like very dark, cool swamps and don't like interacting with humans, i have tracked moose through some very dark swamps! (camera hunt!)

I can't imagine the damage one of those giants could wreak! on our last trip up tulsa we saw a full size cow on the side of the road that had been hit I wonder what that car looked like.........

We were shocked to see the moose in North Eastern Utah. Having just come from moose country (Grand Tetons) where we'd seen them in their preferred habitat. The Utah moose was in a pretty dry area & definitely surprised us! 

Is that first pic a real moose Paul? Man that thing is huge ! Here is one that lives on and around my property.

Damn nation Paul - quick come south, we only have bunnies.
Well, ok an occasional bear, but if they push it, they'll top out at about 7 MPH.
that crazy wild - every time I play it (think I've watched it 10 so far)
moose lesson - stop your car if there's a running moose, especially on wet pavement

Moose are like giant locuts up here. I've got an 8 foot fence to keep them from devouring trees and gardens. My son has totaled two cars on them so far. An electrical crew up here was winching up the lines and noticed some resistance. This was why:

From the "moose as a draft animal" thread

Sepp Holzer is right--certain liberties are more expansive in Russia than the US. How come we are prohibited from domesticating Moose? They are the natural cows of the north:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostroma_Moose_Farm

Looks like they could haul their weight plus...
...but I'd certainly hate to pay the feed bill !

I grew up in rural Maine where there were moose, but we didnt see them very often. We had lots of snow days, even into March and April. One April 1st when I was about 8 yrs old and my sister was 6, my dad woke us up to say that we didn't have to get ready for school because school had been cancelled! With still sleepy euphoria we listened as he went on to tell how a moose had hit the power line pole near the school and knocked out the power so there was no school. "April Fools!!!" followed and we were wide awake, very disappointed and still hoping there was a moose to save us from school that day. Next year he tried it again and we caught on at the first mention of a moose taking down a power line, but it was a good laugh!

Still one of my favorite books

Here's this year's batch of a fabled Alaskan delicacy--Jellied Moose Nose. It tastes even more awesome than it looks!

John Polk wrote:Looks like they could haul their weight plus...
...but I'd certainly hate to pay the feed bill !

Moose are cheap to feed, you just let them browse. They are not much into hay and grain, they eat brush! No fence will hold them, those legs can about trot over an 8 foot fence. I figure the only way to domesticate them so you could use them would be to tie them up all the time, which would be awful on so many levels. They are interesting creatures, though; I have several around my place and I really enjoy watching them. It's clear enough that some of them would be fairly easy to tame. Used to have one old cow that brought her calf here every year and they lived close, because she was getting too old to be able to protect herself and her baby. If I hadn't been busy raising my own family, I often thought of trying to touch that baby. They would hang out really close by so it might have been easy. I like to see the moose come around, because they are not destructive to gardens, etc, like the deer are. Incidentally, my horses were more scared of moose than bears. Plenty of entertainment value there.

Moose are like giant locusts, and if I didn't exclude them, they would chew my fruit trees to stumps. They used to get my garden every fall, until I strung some fence. This one wanted a bite a couple seasons ago. They look comical, but kill people from time to time up here. I've had them bristle and snort and paw the ground while glaring at me, and did get charged once down in Anchorage. I had to dodge around a birch tree to avoid it.

moose and sprinklers

This is a very dangerous situation for the owners of those cars. If a fool were to approach those calves, the mother might attack. When I was 19, I was stuck in a bad spot late into the night because of a moose who claimed ownership of the road between me and my camp site. I was on foot. It was a summer night in northern Ontario. The black flies nearly drained me.

A pic of a moose outside my window when I lived on mount spokane

Moose from our game cam

I remember about 35 years ago when my mother - in - law came to visit us in Whitefish. She called me during the day and asked who to call about the horses that were loose on our property.... really ugly horses she said... yup, a cow and two calves.

Victor Johanson : When I was young old time trappers used to say there most favorite savory (meat ) Dishes were Moose nose, Beaver tail, and Buffalo hump!

I CAN speak to the bevel tail it was awesome ! Big AL

albino moose:

I went to see my parents way up north. My father was in hospital and we stayed at a hotel as their apartment was too small.  

I decided to go across the border into Canada on a miserable day, only day I had 'off' to go visit a gravel quarry I had visited as a very small child. On way up, the local am radio was telling of reports of a moose that had come down and was wandering the area (and warnings to leave it the blank alone). In blowing ick (dirt) and a socked in day, I was in a flat plains area and way up there was a HUGE dark lump that got bigger as I drove. A moose. THE moose. In a flooded grassy ditch, eating. It was Huge. Should I mention, as I got closer, it got a LOT bigger. It was amazing how big it was and how far away it could be seen in the early morning (I had started the drive before light and it was now light). I passed it about 1000 feet away and it ignored me. No antlers but still. Can I say HUGE?  When I pulled in for gas and snacks at a small place, I reported it so someone could call it in (days before everyone having a cellphone, you could have the Nokia type remote looking ones).

Totally awesome, all that huge body, those tiny spindly legs and the head is IMMENSE. (this was about 20 years ago).

(oh, I also managed to trigger a drug alert and they had sniffer dogs waiting at the most likely border crossings I'd come back down. Did I mention that the weather was really really crappy and I honestly did visit the site, had a pit pass, and brought back 200# of assorted jasper and agates in canvas totes in the trunk? I had been totally honest why I was up there, but I-25 was a known drug corridor, I lived in a city ON that corridor, I had Colorado Plates and I was that far north on that day to PICK AGATES in high of 45f, wind of 40, and socked in low? YEAH RIGHT. After two hours of going over the car and contents and me and calling around and checking my receipts for food, gas, pit pass, bank slip for exchanging money back, I was telling the truth.)

Swimming, diving and eating. I didn't know that they did this.

A friend was running in one of the canyons near Salt Lake City some years ago. He had his two dogs with him, one of them strong and fast, one of them partially lame from a birth defect. They came upon a moose up in the trees. The fast dog ran and barked at it. Of course, the moose charged, but the fast dog got away leaving her lame (and innocent) sister in harm's way. The moose came down on the lame dog's back with its front legs, then sauntered away. With the moose safely away, my friend ran to his dog thinking it was dead for sure. His dog popped back up and shook herself off, totally unharmed. Apparently, moose can pull their punches.

I've heard stories of grizzlies doing similar things to people--basically saying, "I could kill you but just don't feel like it today"--but this is the only one I've heard of from a moose.

Holy Cow, I mean Bull! That's HUGE!

I see moose often in my travels. I saw five together last summer in Colorado and 4 more in Idaho. Majestic creatures




I see them in Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Washington, Montana.....I wish we had moose in NC

Soooo...does Wheaton Labs now have a bouncer? Guess they weren't on the list.

In the first image, the moose is thinking "I wish I could talk to somebody about firefly."

paul wheaton wrote:

In the second image, the moose is saying "come back!  I need to talk to you about season two of firefly!"

Everybody has moose stories. Hopefully happy ones, since the sad ones involve a car hitting a concrete block on stilts.

Backpacking in the foothills and Rockies, I had a lot more close encounters with moose than bear. Usually I'd come around a corner in black spruce, swampy country where you can't see a darn thing, and there would be a cow moose and calf. Each time, she could have waltzed over and stomped me but thankfully she couldn't be bothered that day. Yikes.

When I lived in the middle of farm country, a bull moose would walk through the canola fields every fall, crops 4-5 feet high, and you could see daylight under his belly. Just impressive. One misty morning, before I fenced my place, he walked up to my living room window and looked in. I was looking out, bleary eyed and in a housecoat, with coffee cooking, and wondered if I was really awake. (No, it was not pink.)

I remember a hunting story: two guided hunters had bagged a trophy grade moose. They pulled their pickup truck up to a local restaurant, moose in the back, and went inside. When they came out, someone had neatly taken the nose off (local delicacy). So much for taxidermy!