moose and moose sign, secret location

[forestgnome]

Had a day off this week, went for a little hike. This moose was in a feild near the TH after sunrise. I spotted motion in the woods and waited until he came out...

He went back into the woods, then popped out near the TH, but I don't want to mention which trail...

Trail is mostly melted out and dry... Off trail, I found some excellent examples of rub marks on spruce. It's a good look at rub marks, as opposed to peeling from moose eating the bark. We can see deep, sharp gouges, and the braches have been broken off at the trunk, leaving a bare trunk from near the ground up to about ten feet...

Here's a couple trees that were rubbed further in the past past...

more moose sign...

a vernal pool full of spring life!

happy trails

 

[Mattl]

Very nice as always, looks like there is still a good amount of snow out there, even down low. I hope the moose made it through this winter OK.

 

[Waumbek]

With all those ticks and the hair loss, he doesn't look very healthy. Poor guy. You have (inadvertently?) posted his location, but this is a physically stressed moose so we've all seen him now and please leave him alone.

 

[rup]

How do you know those weren't bigfoot marks???

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

The hair loss is likely from the moose's attempts to rub the ticks off, but since he's still around in spring, he'll likely make it through at least 'til fall. A few years back up in Algonquin Prov. Park, there was a moose die-off due to their freezing from lack of enough fur after the animals rubbed it off. A mild winter (and global warming) is good for ticks, but very bad for moose. But I don't recall this having been a mild winter up there.

 

[Waumbek]

Moose seem to be everywhere in northern NH but in fact the herd size has remained stable at about 6000. Winter ticks have a role in that limit. The NH moose project reports that in the early '90s about one-fifth of NH moose had some hair abraded because of ticks; now almost 100% do. Winter ticks are hardest on calves and mortality rates have been as high as 70% in some years, with 20% for adults. Moose are already in the southern part of their range in NH. If the warming continues, aiding the ticks, moose may gradually move north. It's hard to think of NH without moose. Moose as an endangered species also seems alarmist but it would be very short-sighted for wildlife managers not to realize that someday the current threat to them may become very serious. And they don't underestimate it, in NH at least.

 

[dentonfabrics]

Aw c'mon man, you GOTTA tell us where those pictures were taken!! PLEASE????? Nice shots, as usual.

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

... You have (inadvertently?) posted his location, but this is a physically stressed moose so we've all seen him now and please leave him alone.

I'm sure that was a humorous caption regarding not telling which trail, when the trail sign was included in that same photo. It's not like that moose will still be anywhere near there by now. He looks like a rambling man.