Fun backyard Moose pics

[Hatchdog]

Last evening we had a visit from a cow and a yearling calf moose. They have been hanging out in the community for a couple of days according to some other neighbors. First my wife quietly yelled at me to grab my camera. Both of them were standing at our bedroom window close enough to press their noses to the glass. I was too slow getting there and as I tried to get the shot they were moving away and I missed it.

About an hour later they were back and they checked out the birdbath which was empty. This made us think they were thirsty which makes sense as it’s been a very dry spring and there is little standing water and most of us haven’t started watering our lawns yet. My wife had been doing some hand watering with a small sprinkler earlier in the day so she turned the sprinkler on to a low output level to see if they would come over and take a drink. As you can see, they did. Note the pic where both are on their knees to get low enough to drink. I’ve observed this before and find it quite amusing. Also, this explains why they were so interested in our bedroom window. No, they were not peeping moose’s, there is a hose bib right below that window and there was some water around from her earlier watering activities.

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[JEBar]

nice pictures .... neither of us has ever seen a moose in the wild .... even when we spent a couple of weeks in Maine and saw beware of moose signs all over the place

[BigAl52]

Ive seen them while out hunting Elk here in Colorado. Nearly every time we go. They are some big animals

[BigAl52]

Here is one I took on top of Cameron Pass in CO.

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[fortyshooter]

Maybe find an old tub and keep some water in it during the dry times. Nice pictures!

[brm4450]

Every now and again we get a moose in the area, state vet says they’re probably from Minnesota, they get a disease and they wander for miles and it’s fatal

[beaverislander]

Great pics Hatchdog, thanks for sharing.

[Ernie]

Excellent pics. I have never seen a moose in the wild either. Good job with the water.

[ESquared]

Some beautiful shots! Amazing to be that close. Thanks for sharing and post more if you get 'em!

[Centaur]

See them a lot, except the one year I had a tag. Some of the best meat anywhere.

[RanchRoper]

Used to see them regularly when I rode for the big ranch north of us here. Saw 3 big bulls one time, two butting heads and one just watching. Very loud when those heads and antlers connected.

[Hatchdog]

The calf came back last night, didn’t see mom anywhere but I’m sure she was close. Amazingly the little guy/gal walked in and stood in the exact spot where the sprinkler was located the day before. Pretty incredible display of memory or instinct. Unfortunately I had coiled up the hose so the poor calf was dry. I cautiously drug another hose from the other side of the house out and turned it on. The calf immediately walked over and started drinking. This hose was one of those flex type hoses and had a pretty powerful nozzle on it. Shortly after the calf started drinking the hose end started whipping around. The calf kept trying to put a foot on it, that was funny to watch.

I had another hose already extended out the front of the house with a sprinkler attached so while the calf was busy with the whipping hose I was able to turn it on hoping it would see or smell the other water source. Sure enough, after a bit of fighting the whipping hose it walked around the house and “followed” the hose to the sprinkler. Double it actually followed the hose, more just saw/smelled the water.

I got this great pic of it through the bathroom window as it passed by. Drank from the hose for probably 15 minutes on and off and then wandered away. Never did see mom but when I was out turning water on or off my head was on a swivel.

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[Hatchdog]

See them a lot, except the one year I had a tag. Some of the best meat anywhere.

Yeah isn’t’ that way of it. Great pic of that big bull. We too can’t go deer or elk hunting without seeing moose, they’re really numerous around here. We have the Shiras species which is considerably smaller than those giants in Maine, Canada, Alaska, etc. But really, there’s no such thing as a small moose.

Al, that’s a great pic, what a majestic bull in a majestic setting. Just like we would imagine when we picture in our minds a big bull in the wild.

Centaur, dang that’s a big bull. He would look great with some crosshairs on him.

Roper, like you we have seen many giant bulls while hunting other species. One day we came upon a dead bull that was on the smaller side. The ground for probably a 30 foot diameter around the dead bull was all torn up with moose hair everywhere. It must have been an awesome fight, sure would have liked to witness it.

I had the good fortune of drawing my once in a lifetime moose tag in 2012. I shot this medium sized bull after failing to take the shot on a much larger bull due to being “overly-excited”. The bigger bull disappeared and shortly later this guy stepped out of the brush and I took the shot without really taking the time to determine that this was the same bull. Pretty much just thought, BULL and made the shot before I got too excited again.

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