forestgnome
New member
I've been cranky and distant...WTF, it's moose hunt week...
Today was the last day of the moose hunt in NH. I checked a few places where hunters have been parked all week. Their trucks were still there so I knew they were unsuccessfull. Thinking of them being soggy and miserable from the torrential rains gave me a warm smile.
It was an incredibly beautiful late-autumn day in the Sandwich Range. I was at the trailhead before sunrise and looked up at a star-studded sky and watched a huge fireball flash across the sky from west to east. It was an Orionid meteor. An owl was hooting nearby. I was thinking of who may have fallen to the hunters and who was still with us. I thought of my old freind Big Daddy, a massive old bull moose who always hangs out low in spring and early summer, but then disappears. I wonder where he hangs out in autumn. I hoped he was still among us.
The trail was beautiful beyond description. Late October is so magical, after the hords go away and the beech forest is yellow and gold. The brooks were full and lined with golden beeches. I was blessed to watch a fisher cat cross the trail just in front of me. He never saw me because the wet leaves made travelling silent.
Near the summit, I left trail and entered my favorite moose yard, a place that is extremely dense with moose sign, a special place where I have found many shed antlers and watched a moose rut last autumn. It's a beautiful glade of paper birch and spruce over hobblebush, moose maples and ferns.
After Gatorade and too much chocolate I was creeping along listening to ravens up near the summits. The wind was making birch bark flap around and it took a while to settle down and get used to it because it can be mistaken for the step of an animal.
As I approached a thick clump of spruce I thought I heard a sound of interest so I froze and reached for my camera. A moment later a massive, majestic bull moose walked out from behind the spruce and through the ferns and stopped about 25' away from me. He had presence. His antlers were very dark brown and the spread was exceptional, beautiful antlers of possibly 25 points and very wide spread. I slowly looked down at my settings and raised the camera. As I looked back up at him he was frozen and staring at me. I couldn't move. Then he looked forward, tilted his head back and trotted through dense hobblebush and disapeared into the spruce.
No matter how many close encounters I have with moose it's still intense. I took a few steps forward and let out a loud sigh of pleasure, which startled two more moose that I hadn't even seen. They were even closer to me but the bull had distracted me from them. It was a large cow and a junior bull with little spike antlers. The cow ran off in another direction with the junior bull right behind her. He owes me a big favor.
happy autumn
Richard, a yearling bull, as seen at a beaver bog last week, browsing pincherry leaves
Today was the last day of the moose hunt in NH. I checked a few places where hunters have been parked all week. Their trucks were still there so I knew they were unsuccessfull. Thinking of them being soggy and miserable from the torrential rains gave me a warm smile.
It was an incredibly beautiful late-autumn day in the Sandwich Range. I was at the trailhead before sunrise and looked up at a star-studded sky and watched a huge fireball flash across the sky from west to east. It was an Orionid meteor. An owl was hooting nearby. I was thinking of who may have fallen to the hunters and who was still with us. I thought of my old freind Big Daddy, a massive old bull moose who always hangs out low in spring and early summer, but then disappears. I wonder where he hangs out in autumn. I hoped he was still among us.
The trail was beautiful beyond description. Late October is so magical, after the hords go away and the beech forest is yellow and gold. The brooks were full and lined with golden beeches. I was blessed to watch a fisher cat cross the trail just in front of me. He never saw me because the wet leaves made travelling silent.
Near the summit, I left trail and entered my favorite moose yard, a place that is extremely dense with moose sign, a special place where I have found many shed antlers and watched a moose rut last autumn. It's a beautiful glade of paper birch and spruce over hobblebush, moose maples and ferns.
After Gatorade and too much chocolate I was creeping along listening to ravens up near the summits. The wind was making birch bark flap around and it took a while to settle down and get used to it because it can be mistaken for the step of an animal.
As I approached a thick clump of spruce I thought I heard a sound of interest so I froze and reached for my camera. A moment later a massive, majestic bull moose walked out from behind the spruce and through the ferns and stopped about 25' away from me. He had presence. His antlers were very dark brown and the spread was exceptional, beautiful antlers of possibly 25 points and very wide spread. I slowly looked down at my settings and raised the camera. As I looked back up at him he was frozen and staring at me. I couldn't move. Then he looked forward, tilted his head back and trotted through dense hobblebush and disapeared into the spruce.
No matter how many close encounters I have with moose it's still intense. I took a few steps forward and let out a loud sigh of pleasure, which startled two more moose that I hadn't even seen. They were even closer to me but the bull had distracted me from them. It was a large cow and a junior bull with little spike antlers. The cow ran off in another direction with the junior bull right behind her. He owes me a big favor.
happy autumn
Richard, a yearling bull, as seen at a beaver bog last week, browsing pincherry leaves
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