The last month or so we've had a 2-year-old bull moose hanging around the house eating on an alfalfa stack. About a week ago he started walking toward my team (I think he has amorous intentions on my black mare mule), so I put my dogs on him, which he chased right back to the bobsled. Took a while to get the team shut down! Well, today he walked out of the stack yard and looked at my team and the dogs went after him again. He put his head down and pinned his ears back, then shook his head trying to intimidate my dogs. When he shook his head his horns fell off! If a moose could ever look embarassed he did. He then walked sheepishly into the willows and disappeared. Sometimes you get a kick out of those moose. Made my day, even if my team was a little spooky for an hour or two.

It is about the right time for the moose to start dropping the horns. Seems the healthier ones drop earlier than the others. My horses hardly flinch at deer and elk, but a moose sends them into a meltdown. KM

LOL That would have been neat to see! I'm glad your team handled ok. Your dogs even got to have some fun:). I'm cutting all day tomorrow. I'll take the team out Thursday to skid; maybe I'll encounter an elk. Landowner said fresh tracks and scat in there a while back. We have 'em here at home once in a while. Some of the horses blow and carry on, not used to the scent I guess. Steve

Wes,
I'm not sure where you are, but that WOULD have been a sight to see! Here in MN, they say the moose population is doing well, but we don't see them around our place. What are you going to do with the antlers?

That's a good story Wes!

Wes, what are you going to do with the antlers? Email me if you would please.

If there was a 1st prize for stories, you would win. Don't believe this would be easy to top.

When you get your moose to do this Wes, let me know. KM

Wes, How is that young team working out?

Wes,

The only story I know that would top that one is the "Son of a Gun" story about your daughter at day care.
Thanks for sharing both!

Greg

KM - That picture was incredible! Do you know the story behind it?

Jenny, I'm in Wyoming. The moose in this area are doing well, but the wolves are decimating them up north by Yellowstone. I haven't decided what to do with the horns. I have quite a few sheds laying around. Kari, I couldn't get that page to work on my computer. Vince, I've got those colts going real good. One is the black mare in that picture I posted. She walks the feed ground like an old pro already. The other one I put in your harness is a horse. He's been coming along, but is not nearly the natural that the black mule is. Jonathan, what's your email?

KM, Is that moose stuffed?

That photo is a photoshop computer hoax folks. No way no how it's going to happen.

I have had moose watch us while cutting hay or ploughing and the horses just seem to be curious about that funny looking critter.
I was seeding grain one time, when the team made an abrupt right turn. I stopped to try and see the problem, but no joy. Next pass same thing. I caught on that the dogs had chased a bear up a tree next to us and were sitting there waiting.

Back in the Holiday 1994 issue we had an article called "A Big Moostake," about attempting to work moose. They are pretty cantankerous to work with. I don't have the picture from the article, but here's a similar one: Ben Moore's Moose in Harness, Skaguay, Alaska In our article the author quotes Lt. Billy Mitchell (who oversaw construction of telegraph lines in Alaska from Eagle to Valdez), "Many attempts have been made to harness moose and make them work. Success attended some of the efforts, but moose become very obstinate and when they refuse to work, it is impossible to make them pull or even move." Gail

I have been curious about moose as work animals since I heard that the Russians were experimenting with the idea prior to World War 1. As I remember the story, the war interrupted their research.

This happened 18 years ago: I was planting a field into barley that was a mixture of hills and trees. There were several hills that were too steep to farm so they had been left in quaking aspen, chokecherry, hawthorn and other brush. As I started this field I saw a cow moose standing back in the trees a little. I went around and she was still there. The next time around she was laying down. The next a partially born baby moose. The next round a full baby moose. A few rounds later baby was standing and they had started to move off. It was really neat to watch. I will likely never to see that again. KM

I think that is an example of one of the wonderful things about living in the country, just seeing these vignettes of nature that you happen upon every now and then. Once I was standing outside the chicken house and watched a very large oak in the woodline come crashing to the ground out of the blue. And, another time, saw a white deer in a snowstorm, and sometime later found a dead bear and so on.... No moose stories; those told here are hard to top! But, the anticipation of seeing some interesting thing during the day around here is one of the great perks of country living.

Last fall a guy across the river from us had a moose come in and start feeding with his horses. This was in pasture, no snow on the ground. The front cover of the South Interlake Credit Union calendar has a picture of the moose standing probably less then 50 feet from the barn door.

Don’t know if there is a difference between Russian and our moose, but in “The Moose Call” a couple of years back there was a sidebar on Russian Moose. “In Russia young moose are lived trapped, corralled and broken like horses." It goes on to say that a law was passed in an Estonia city, in middle ages, forebiding riding moose on the city streets, as it startled the horses. Also, it stated in Catherine the Great's rule, moose were kept under strict government control. This was to keep domestic moose away from rebellious tribesmen and Siberian prisoners, as “Horses were always at a disadvantage when pursuing well ridden moose across any swampy country."

It was 3 degrees here this morning and I saw a beagle pushing a rabbit over the hill, trying to get it started.

Thanks to Hellmut and Christina Patzelt of British Columbia, here's more info (rumors?) on the moose in harness.

Go to snopes.com and type in a description of any pic that looks too good to be true, and the results are as interesting as the pic, even when they turn out to be frauds. At the bottom of the snopes page is a real pic of a moose in harness. Some people have too much time on their hands.