Moosed again!

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JRinPA
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Re: Moosed again!

#21

Post: # 32055Unread post JRinPA
Thu Oct 08, 2020 11:57 am

I can totally understand not wanting to hunt your local mooses...I've never even considered it. Same for bears. Had I grown up hunting them, I'm sure I'd feel differently. The frontiersman had to kill bears for the fat. I don't. But if they were causing conflict, that of course is different.

Would daikon grow up there for them? That is a big producer here for forage. I'm thinking small plots of daikon with a CRW cage open and arched over it would work here to keep deer from eating the whole plot at once. The moose look like they would eat the cage.

Pic of Romeo 9/23/20 looks to me like his antlers have the velvet rubbed off...so done growing. It is rare to see a whitetail in velvet, here, by that time. And everything should happen sooner up North.
You seem sure they are the same ones from last year? Generally a buck always has a bigger rack than the previous year, barring injury, until they are getting too old. Like 6 1/2 years for a whitetail to start declining, I'd say. By then their teeth are shot, bodies aged, and they don't get the nutrient uptake they once did. If that is a younger bull and he has a smaller rack than last year, he must be pretty lean/thin.

Sounds like the peak of the NF moose rut is right about now, 10/8. When did you see them last? A buddy of mine has deer doing the deed in the corner of his yard every November...not something I want to see.

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bower
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Re: Moosed again!

#22

Post: # 32062Unread post bower
Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:57 pm

[mention]JRinPA[/mention] the date from last year, when they really were having the romance, was October 28. Also both females who have come by still have the young calves with them. I've been told the males will drive those away before the rut.
IDK about the rack, it's possible I didn't get a good shot of it either. The guys have a tendency to stand with their heads under a branch, tbh it often looks like they're trying to hide that rack, and maybe they are just savvy about trophy status in the human gardens.
It's also possible that Romeo is older than 6 years, or that he had a tough winter (it was brutal with a lot of snow, the 20 year bad winter).
He looked full grown to me last year, although unusually short and stocky, and he is not any bigger this year. Rosebud OTOH appeared to be quite a young moose and indeed she's bigger than Romeo this year, so she's still growing herself.
Romeo's calico face color is pretty distinctive - I've not seen another like him here before.
So I'm pretty sure it's them, but too bad the pics got rained out.
Here's a pic of them from last year.
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AKgardener
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Re: Moosed again!

#23

Post: # 32063Unread post AKgardener
Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:59 pm

Haha love it I get moose daily in my yard glad I put up a fence but there always here!! They really are amazing animals love the pictures

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JRinPA
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Re: Moosed again!

#24

Post: # 32103Unread post JRinPA
Fri Oct 09, 2020 8:37 am

Image
Image
For moose, maybe they are longer lived than whitetails, I don't know.
The size of the antler base on this year's rainy pic does look fairly big, then the beam coming out is much narrower. The beard (what's that called on a moose?) is down to the top of his arm bone.
The bases last year looks the same size but the horns stay thicker. The beard looks longer too, down to the bottom of his arm bone.
Could well be he is getting on in years. I'd love to see some more pics of Romeo.

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bower
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Re: Moosed again!

#25

Post: # 32128Unread post bower
Fri Oct 09, 2020 3:19 pm

I wonder if they'll be back for the romantic dinner again later this month. I also struggled with the rained out pictures, trying to see the 'beard' or dewlap, which looks longer in some of the pics but they are maybe too dark and blurred to tell where background begins and ends.
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temperate marine climate
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MsCowpea
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Re: Moosed again!

#26

Post: # 41555Unread post MsCowpea
Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:32 pm

Those are wonderful pictures of your visitors. Must be really nice to live in such a forested area. They do look a bit formidable, unlike pretty
dainty deer.
"When we kill off the natural enemies of a pest we inherit their work."
Carl Huffaker

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bower
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Re: Moosed again!

#27

Post: # 41568Unread post bower
Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:56 am

I do enjoy the forest. Mostly the company of trees is very pleasant. ;)
Moose are very different from deer, which according to what I've read are herd animals, and that's part of the reason that deer are so much trouble for gardeners. Moose generally travel in small family groupings or alone. They do congregate together for shelter in the winter, but they don't have the herd social structure. There have been experiments to try and domesticate moose into a herd, which failed. So it has been interesting over the years to observe how different they are as individuals with personalities.
AgCan Zone 5a/USDA zone 4
temperate marine climate
yearly precip 61 inches/1550 mm

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Labradors
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Re: Moosed again!

#28

Post: # 41569Unread post Labradors
Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:19 am

Lovely pics Bower. You are so kind to grow things just for them :).

I promise that I will never complain about bunnies again.........

Linda

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bower
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Re: Moosed again!

#29

Post: # 97530Unread post bower
Sun May 14, 2023 9:58 am

No moose pics at all in 2022. I spotted one yearling in May, who got spooked and trotted off in a hurry. But when they failed to put in an appearance for peas, I got worried about them and how they had fared in the extremely hot summer we had (for a moose). There was sign that moose had passed through taking only a nibble of the trees, well after the end of pea growing season. So I didn't get to see the mooselings of 2022, until the 4th of May 2023!!
A pair of yearlings, Rosebud's by the look of the forelocks, boy and a girl.
It was raining, but not the worst for photos, so here are a few.
They do not look a bit starved or miserable, although maybe a bit small in stature (which could be genetic); Shown by the pea trellis for height comparison. I think they are none the worse for wear and must've found a good pond to summer in and decent browse into the fall and winter, which was warm and snow free until mid february.
2023-may-rosebuds-albion-570.JPG
2023-may-twinyearlings-571.JPG
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AgCan Zone 5a/USDA zone 4
temperate marine climate
yearly precip 61 inches/1550 mm

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bower
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Re: Moosed again!

#30

Post: # 97531Unread post bower
Sun May 14, 2023 10:05 am

They didn't get much of a nibble here as the rabbits left nothing much! Some willows and currants that were under the big late dump of snow. And a bit early for me to have brassicas out of the greenhouse. I wonder if they were through here late 2022 and remembered to sniff the pea trellis..
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Then after a short chow it seemed like they smelled someone off to the side where humans come and go. That decided them to trundle on into the woods. I'm not sure where the yearlings go after they do their run through here. But I never see them return with their own young, so it seems they are on their way out of the watershed area to some big moose stomping ground further from the human buildup.
alba-and-albion-may2023-606.JPG
alba-and-albion-may2023-609.JPG
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AgCan Zone 5a/USDA zone 4
temperate marine climate
yearly precip 61 inches/1550 mm

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