bull moose in rutting season

[forestgnome]

Yesterday after work I walked an old logging road and I found the same moose I saw a couple weeks ago in a small clearing. I found a fresh rutting pit in the middle of the clearing. As I searched around the edges I tried a few female mating calls and after about a minute I heard a moose walking steadily toward the clearing. It turned out to be the moose that a local moose fan has named Spirit Walker.

Here he is two weeks ago, still in velvet..

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/forestgnome/IMG_4104aaa.jpg



and here he is yesterday after shedding his velvet...

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/forestgnome/White%20Mountain%20Moose/IMG_8039aaa.jpg




I made my presence known and he looked at me for a moment...

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/forestgnome/White%20Mountain%20Moose/IMG_8037aaa.jpg




Then he made he way over to the rutting pit...

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/forestgnome/White%20Mountain%20Moose/IMG_4791aaa.jpg



He dug at it and then urinated in it and then laid down. I wish I could have gotten pics of that but he was behind a clump of pin cherries from my position. I slowly made my over for a nice angle. I laid down a few times on my way over and I eventually got to a nice place to capture a nice image. He was doing some interesting things that happen during this season. He was nodding his head back and forth for minutes at a time, which seemed to me to be a display of his antlers.

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/forestgnome/White%20Mountain%20Moose/IMG_7976aaa.jpg




http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/forestgnome/White%20Mountain%20Moose/IMG_7987aaa.jpg



http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/forestgnome/White%20Mountain%20Moose/IMG_8008aaa.jpg



http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/forestgnome/White%20Mountain%20Moose/IMG_7994aaa.jpg




happy autumn :o

[1HappyHiker]

Magnificent animal and a magnificent photographer!

[Snow Miser]

I agree! What a beautiful moose. Thanks for sharing Patrick.

[Charlie]

in the 6th picture was he saying hi to you

[mtruman]

That was quite the display that he put on for you. My favorite is the third pic where he's first looking at you. I'll never get over the look of trust in the eyes of every animal that you encounter. Amazing...

[Anna LeBlanc]

Man who dances with Moose you are just unbelieveable.:D


_____________
Anna

[KSearl]

Awesome pictures. Well done as always! Thanks for sharing.

Karl

[CHRIS]

Absolutley fantastic shots. He looks very healthy. Thanks for bringing him to us.