It's a Moose!

Just before our latest rounds of snow, Shyla and I had an experience that was remincent of the time, just about a year ago, when three moose somehow snuck up behind me while I was taking photos of Shyla in the sunrise light.

This experience was also at sunrise. Shyla was perched on her favorite boulder when her eyes became more and more intensely focused somewhere behind me.

First her eyes widened.

Then her chin started to rise.

Her chin rose some more, and her eyes seemed to widen.

Then her gaze followed something to the left.

At that point, I stopped snapping photos, and I looked behind me. I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I visually checked every boulder, stump, and out-of-the-ordinary tree but I still saw no animals.

We finished our photography session with Shyla seeming a bit more relaxed. She galloped and played as I took photos.

After our photo session, we took off riding the trails nearby. Almost immediately, we saw this big guy. I wondered if Shyla had sensed him during our photo session -- that would explain her alarmed look.

I think that he's a young bull because he wasn't too hefty and his antlers weren't huge. On the previous day, he was with the mother moose and her calf (who I showed photos of recently). That made me wonder if he was a young adult offspring of the mother moose.

After standing a good distance away taking photos for a while, he did look directly at us. I took that as our cue to move along. He let us go peacefully. I love getting to observe wildlife like this!

My general experience with moose (so far) has been that bull moose seem less prone to get upset with humans than cow moose when it's not mating season. In contrast, cow moose with calves can go from relaxed to aggressive without much warning at any time of year.

It takes a long time to learn the ways of the wildlife around us. I love observing them but don't want to upset them or put me and Shyla in danger. I'm gradually learning how to do this with moose.