"Bad Hair Day"

The tracks in the new fallen snow were obvious and easy to follow. It didn’t take much in the realm of tracking skills to establish the direction of this large hoofed mammal. The only substantial challenge to catching up to this massive Bull Moose, was locating the long strides as he traveled through thick brush.

While "dogging" the tracks, as the moose effortlessly traveled up over a steep ridge, I stopped to shed a layer of clothes and catch my breath. How much further would he travel and where was he going? The forty pounds of photo gear and lack of preparation for a long hike were beginning to take its toll on my ability to forge onward.

I first noticed this bull when he was laying down only a short distance from the gravel woods road I had been scouting. Initially, I thought the moose was only moving a short distance, to a new bedding location – that proved wrong. Now, after traveling about a half-mile in snow, it was time to make a decision. Would it be better to continue on, in hopes of the moose stopping soon, or return to the truck and get better prepared for hiking under the present conditions?

To make an informed choice I decided to shed my photo gear and pack, and scout the tracks and terrain further up ahead. This proved to be a good choice. Only fifty yards ahead of where I left the gear there was a noticeable difference in the stride of the tracks. This indicated that the moose was slowing his pace and had come into the vicinity of his destination. I returned to my gear and loaded up to continue on the trail.

The moose tracks began to meander; it was late in the rutting season and I suspected the bull had scented a female (referred to as a cow) moose. However, there were no other moose tracks in sight and, if a cow was in the vicinity, I presumed that it must have been quite a ways off. The tracks of the Bull Moose entered a wet boggy area and I elected to circle the bog and pick-up the tracks on the other side.

The detour around the bog was through very dense woods and much further than anticipated. The snow froze around the soaked leg bottoms of my wool pants and boots. I stopped to chip off some of this frozen snow, when a loud snapping of branches caught my attention. I had found the big Bull Moose; or, did he find me?

Standing only eight feet away, the ominous presence of the moose was unusually disconcerting. I raised my camera and, as always, began to talk to the moose, reminding him that we had spent about an hour together earlier when he was lying near the road. This didn’t seem to matter to the bull (not that I really thought it would) as I noticed a significant change in his posture and behavior. Here we were, just the two of us, out in the middle of nowhere. His hackles raised and he lowered his head with a menacing stare, it became clear that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Rut behavior

The breeding season, also referred to as the rut, alters the behavior of the moose in many ways. The rut generally begins in early to mid September and extends through the month of October. Although the peak rut is early fall, remnants of the rutting behavior can last well into and through November. During the rut, the bulls can become very irritable as they travel through the forest in search of a receptive female. Then, when a female is located, bulls will aggressively ward off other males or anything the bull perceives as competition for the female. The bull will spend one or two days with the female, and then continue his search for the next receptive cow.

Back to the story

As a professional wildlife photographer, I consider the necessary skills for success to be far more than knowing how to create a nice photograph. An extremely important skill for photographing wildlife in the wild is the ability to read and understand wildlife behavior.

There wasn’t any doubt that this Bull Moose was assuming an aggressive posture, and that the danger of being charged was imminent. I read the behavior immediately, but was puzzled as to what provoked it.

Then, his left ear turned to listen behind and to the left of him. The moose should have remained riveted on me, but something more important obviously distracted him – this was my clue. As I looked in the direction that the moose was listening, a small flicker of movement in the thick brush caught my attention. The small flicker was the movement of an ear. In the brush lying down behind the Bull Moose were three cows – his harem.

All of this occurred in a matter of seconds. In fact, in about the same amount of time it took me to press the shutter button for a few frames and put some distance between the Bull Moose and me.

I slowly backed away, watching the expression and behavior of the jealous bull. It was only a matter of a few yards before finding the bull’s comfort-zone. The moose was now secure with the dominance over his harem and no longer perceived me as a threat. We hung-out together for about an hour, until the cold weather and my frozen pants got the best of me.

Good shooting!

For questions or comments, e-mail: DavidMurray@roadrunner.com.