A Moose Meeting

I could hear the wind howling outside this morning but today is a special day so I got up for sunrise anyway. You see, on Groundhog Day, the sun rises exactly between the two peaks that sit to our east. I took a photo this morning but the sunrise was obscured by clouds. I'm hoping for clear skies tomorrow so I can get the elusive photo of the sun between those peaks!

We've concluded that a cloud-covered sunrise on Groundhog Day means 16 more weeks of snow for us!

When the sun finally rose above the clouds, Shyla and I found a protected spot to soak up a few rays.

Then, we went on our way, having a tough but fun snowbike ride. It was tough because the wind kept stopping me in my tracks or blowing me sideways!

After I rode with Shyla, I headed out on my own, and the adventure of the day started. I spotted two moose, a mother and a calf about 30-40 yards uphill of a trail very close to our house. I happened to have a long lens with me so I thought it was my lucky day.

My first photo accidentally caught mom itching herself with her hind hoof! I had to crop these photos substantially so I'm sorry for any blurring.

Then, Mom and her calf started eating all the tender shoots that they could find. They stayed almost exactly side-by-side.

I made sure that they knew I was there by making noise at the start. Although they each looked at me a few times, they didn't seem at all concerned with me.

I guess they'd already eaten the lower shoots because they were both reaching high to nibble.

In a super cropped view of mom reaching up, you can even see her teeth! It looks like she should brush more often!

In Junior's photo, you can start to see that he has antler buds just above his eyes.

You can really see it from a front view. I hope he grows up to have great big antlers!

They just kept eating, as if I wasn't there. I kept my distance, staying down on the trail and not approaching at all.

As I watched them devouring every new shoot on the aspens and the shrubs, I started wondering about how wise it was to "introduce" moose to Colorado. Apparently, they probably never inhabited this area prior to the introduction. I wonder how the vegetation is going to be affected.

I was just about to depart when mom gave me this look, which gave me a hint of worry.

Then she lowered her head a little, and I departed right away. I'm not sure why it worried me - she hadn't walked any closer to me but I followed my gut feeling.

I did my solo ride, which was mainly organized around some trail camera maintenance. Then, I headed home.

My route home took me past the "moose spot" again to get to my house, although quite a bit of time had passed since I'd seen the moose there. I rode slowly, scanning carefully for the moose as I rode. I started to think that they were gone.

Then, all of a sudden, mother moose burst out of the dense forest, head down, charging me. Holy Moly. I've never been so scared by any animal in the forest.

I yelled. My first yell was a yell of fear. Then, in the course of 2 seconds, I knew I had to stop her before she stampeded me and possibly killed me. My next two yells were angry and aggressive, telling her to "GO, GO, GO AWAY". And, I simultaneously swung my beloved new Meriwether bike between her and me.

At seemingly the last instant, she shied away, with the kind of body language that horses use when scared of something. I kept talking to her in an authoritative way as I backed away. She was now walking in the opposite direction but I continued to back away for a long distance, making sure she wasn't coming up behind me.

Needless to say, I need to figure out how to make sure this type of encounter doesn't happen again. Perhaps I'll carry a bell so they can hear me coming before I am too close. They like to hang out in dense foliage so it's very hard to see them soon enough to give them a wide berth.

I'm glad the moose are doing so well in Colorado but I am now leery of having them hanging around near our house on a regular basis. I'm sure that I'll learn to handle it, like the other wildlife, but today it seems scary.