Rut the heck?

[Barbarossa]

I was curious about moose rutting season, so I did some poking around. Apparently it starts mid-September and runs through October.

Males will spar to death. so I read, which is unusual in the animal kingdom. This shows a very high level of aggression.

Here are three articles that I found interesting:

http://www.vividlight.com/articles/3505.htm

http://dep.state.ct.us/burnatr/wildlife/factshts/moose.htm

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/white/other_things/wildlife/index_wildlife.html

 

[NewHampshire]

Moose and deer can get real peeved off during the rut. Ive even heard a story of 2 trophy deer sparing and weakening so much that one of em died and the carcass was eaten (with the other deer haning to life by a thread.) The survivng deer was later found dead with the head of the other deer stuck antler to antler.

As for moose. The NH fish and game department was soliciting for donations to get a taxidermy display made of 2 trophy moose racks that were found intertwined. And I mean TROPHY racks. They were very excited because of how rare two old and HUGE bull moose fight (most animals realize as they get older to let the youngsters fight to exhaustion.....then they can trot in and kick the pups butt .)

Interesting creatures the Alces alces and Odocoileus virginianus are.
Brian

 

[sweeper]

And My one-and-only close encounter with a Bull Moose was end-O-Sep, I was going to retrieve the hanging food bag and walked around some new growth Balsams and there he was, <10' in front of me OOoo $h!T!!!

I could have reached out and patted him on the nose. I had NO where to go. I threw my hands over my and let out one of loudest Combat Engineer yells (Like the Army's "Whoo-a" only it starts about 4" lower then the union of the legs.) I have EVER produced. Bullwinkle turned and I took the opportunity to exit, stage left.
My son rolling up his bag in the tent says "What was that noise?"
"It was a Freak'n Bull Moose,and me yelling" I replied.
"No. What was the crash?"
"I didn't hear a crash."
Going back to the where I saw the moose, way up in the tree was a fresh nick in the bark. My reach is just under 8' and this nick was 5' above that.
We looked out past the Balsams and there he was, grazing like nothing had happened.

And go figure the only close encounter with a Big female was in the spring. Didn't even hesitate to walk WAaay around her.

 

[Stan]

According to the late Bill Silliker, who photographed and wrote about many a moose, the rut runs from mid-September through October. I understand moose don't keep good calendars so it may vary slightly from year to year and moose to moose. I suppose it may also depend upon just how sexy the neighborhood cows are but that is pure speculation on my part.

Here is a link to Bill Silliker's site, namely to What Exactly is a Moose?

 

[twigeater]

I like to spend time in BSP during Sept and October because it is a good time to see moose. I've been lucky enough not to have any issues with moose on the trail or anywhere else, and they've come pretty close.
The most memorable time was at Russell Pond where an amorous bull was after a cow...her calf was still with her and was very confused. Mommy would go out and feed in the pond, and the bull would go after her and try to drown her (LOL). They all came thundering through the campground, I was on the trail and stepped back by the lean-to until they passed.
Another time a moose showed up at the same sites we were at each day. We met up with the fella on the trail and watched him for some time. He smelled pretty moosey. I say he followed us because he continued north after we turned back south, but my hiking partner says no.

Moose are very interesting to watch.