Rutting moose, great encounter while looking for Jamie's grizzlies. (120916)

Zel and I were out early this morning trying to find the two nice grizzlies that Jamie had captured images of last week. It was a nice clear morning and we kept an eye on the thermometer as it continued to drop.While we found no bears, we enjoyed the most exhilarating moose experience I have had in my life. It was unforgettable, and I don't know how to keep the photo's here under 100!
We started off by stopping and spotting the little immature bull that Tim and I found last weekend.  Then there was a cow and a calf a little further up the large swamp, as we looked even further up we spied what looked like two mature animals a couple of 1000 yards up the swamp. So we headed up the road. To our surprise we found the following:

 We'll call this one Paul's Cow.

We'll call this fella Paul's Bull. While I brought truck to a stop in a convenient spot to get some shots, Zel tells me that there is a "bigger" bull on his side of the road, back about 200 yards. We caught a glimpse of him, it appeared that he was making his way out to the road. In the mean time Paul's bull got up and started sparring with a dead spruce to announce his intentions.

Zel's Cow made an appearance, and not far behind came Zel's Bull. Here is a shot of the two of the together.

The two bulls seemed to be intent on having a little competition as to who should be entitled to the company of the ladies present.  Oh, I forgot to mention that further upon the west side of the road there were two more cows feeding (that made 6 moose). But wouldn't you know it, some brain dead driver came ripping through our little drama, and forced all the moose off the road. But Paul's bull wasn't happy until he was certain that he put the run on Zel's bull (even though Zel's bull looked to be quite a bit larger). Here is a last shot of Zel's Bull.

There was tension everywhere. Here is a shot of Zel's cow, passing by Paul's cow, you can see how they have their ears flattened down and they never take their eyes off one another.

Afterwards, Paul's Bull walked off into the woods with Zel's cow. Paul's Cow continued southbound down the road, and we caught up with her a little while later.

We went back and Paul's bull was feeding from the mineral lick next to the road. His antlers bear the remnants of the tree that he attacked while in the spruce thicket.

All in all we spent 75 minutes with these majestic beasts. A fabulous experience that I hope I never forget.  Here's hoping you have a great Wildlife week!
Turbo