Moose on the Loose!

Off early from work today, and with the weather forecast being favorable, I packed up my camera gear and a change of clothes to change into at precisely 4:00 pm. I don’t have many chances to photograph at the refuge in the evenings, so I decided to head down there after work. A 40 minute drive was worth the trip on such an unseasonably pleasant afternoon.

As I headed out the parking lot after work, the traffic on Reserve Street was horrendous, so I opted for the back road over Blue Mountain.  Longer in distance, but far less traffic and a much nicer drive.  As I hit Blue Mountain Road the river was high and fast; the snow melt was sadly in full swing - at least a month early - and the water was even seeping into the overflow ditches already.

No leaves budding out yet, so everything was still pretty brown, and very few songbirds had come in. It appeared as if the ones that did had already continued on their journey north. I rounded the bend just before McClay Flats to see a fair amount of cars in the parking area. No surprise with the warm spring-like weather we’ve been having. But the big surprise was around the next bend, where I came upon about a dozen cars parked along both sides of the road. That only meant one thing…  MOOSE! 

In the twists of the road between McClay Flats and the recreation area, there is a small, seasonal pond that fills in from the rising ground water when the snow melts. With a good rainy Spring, it sometimes stays full long into the summer and typically dries out by mid to late August.

As I pulled up, sure enough, there it was. At first I thought it was a bull, but it turned out to be a very large cow. I turned around and parked on the same side of the road as the pond, using my car as a safety net. I do not want to find myself having to scramble away from the drivers’ side door, should the moose decide it didn’t want an audience and I needed to make a quick escape. With the drivers’ side facing away from the moose, I was able to get my equipment out of the car and set it up safely.

She had wintered well, and was fat and sleek - and most likely pregnant, as a few of my photos revealed a rather swollen belly.  The calves are usually born around mid to late April, so I made a mental note to keep checking the pond in the next few months. I was so very fortunate to photograph a cow and calf in this same pond several years ago, and while I doubt this is the same cow, it could be one of her calves, returning to her home waters. 

I started with the 75-300 lens, which offered just the right amount of telephoto for some nice shots.  Other spectators came and went, shot off a few frames of photos and drove away. Others stopped only long enough to grab a few photos with their cell phones, and a few - like me - hung out for a while, but I stayed the longest. Almost exactly two hours, in fact. How could I not, with this opportunity, literally sometimes, staring me right in the face?

It’s almost as interesting to watch other humans observing wildlife, as it is the wildlife itself. Most of the just don’t stop to think that this is a wild animal, not something at a zoo.  A few of them kept creeping further down the slope toward the pond, getting about half way down and then, hopefully feeling a sense of not being safe there, went back up to the edge of the road. One young man however, ignored everyone’s warnings not to get too close, and made his way all the way down to the edge of the pond. The moose was non reactive at first, but then decided she did not want him there, and charged at him. I bet that guy had no idea he could move that fast! She spooked him so bad that he dropped his phone at the edge of the water and was afraid to go back and get it. For all I know it’s still there. The moose didn’t intend any harm and only ran toward him as a bluff. She could have easily killed him if she had a mind to. As soon as he was back up to the top of the slope she turned her back on him and began grazing again - guess she told him. The guy was either so scared or so embarrassed that he got in his car and left, to a round of jeers, applauds and scolding from a bunch of the other people.

A little later, another guy stopped with his kids; two about ten or twelve, and one around two or three. He stood at the top of the hill and let the toddler run about, squealing and yelling. The moose was obviously a bit annoyed by the commotion; I watched her lay her ears back more than once while she watched this little tyke race around. I held my breath each time, wondering if she was going to charge again. If so, it could be disastrous - and the moose would be the one to suffer for it. Fortunately, the dad picked the kid up and walked away with him. Thank goodness.

 

About an hour and a half into shooting, I opted to change lenses, and attached the 150-600 onto my camera, and wow!  Talk about close-ups!  I got full face images of this magnificent moose.  As it became later and later, the clouds rolled in and there were a few sprinkles of rain. Everyone loaded up and left, but I simply slipped the rain sleeve over my lens and kept shooting. Next time I looked up I was the only one there - well, me and the moose. She watched me off and on, and I stayed behind my car, ever vigil for the slightest sign of annoyance or aggression - but she never showed either. When her belly was finally full, she took one last look at me, gave me a snort, turned around and wandered off into the trees. I watched her go, packed up my gear and headed home, the refuge and the Sandhill Cranes the farthest things from my mind.