Dennis McCann: All the moose fit to print -- and photograph

Originally published Oct. 13, 2008

I know that I can go to the guess-what-I-just-saw well only so often, even living in what seems to be this north woods wildlife park, and under normal circumstances I’d let last week’s bobcat sighting speak for itself. But I can’t help myself, because that same post referred to the unusual sighting of a young bull moose in Ashland – and, even as I write this, that very same moose is bedded down on a rainy hillside JUST DOWN THE ROAD FROM MY HOUSE.

Sorry to shout like that, but a moose on the loose would goose anyone’s excitement meter.

As I noted last week, moose sightings are pretty rare in Wisconsin, though a few are reported every year. This was my first, and to find it within walking distance of our house was a thrill. I was coming back from running a few errands when a man walking in the light rain on our road hailed me and asked if I had seen the moose. Moose? I believe I answered. Yes, he said, just down here, so off we went to see if it was still there. And sure enough, there on the rainy hillside was the moose, lying down in the brush but with its big head and shoulders and antlers easily in view.

As was the case with my bobcat encounter I did not have a camera (maybe I need to revisit that policy) so I went home and got my wife and for the next 45 minutes or so watched the moose walk a bit and then hunker down again. She got a few photos, despite questioning the advisability of approaching a maybe 1,000-pound bull moose who might not be in the best frame of mind, given that it is the rut. But the moose cooperated just enough to get digital evidence of his presence here so no one can say we made it up.

When I say it is the very same moose spotted in Ashland last week I am, of course, only speculating. But it is clearly a young bull, given the antler growth, and there aren’t many of them around so it is at least a very good supposition. The question, though, is without a young moose cow to give him company on these cool fall nights, will be take home a favorable impression of his first Bayfield visit? I hope so, and hope that his journey to wherever comes next is a safe one.

This morning we had, as we usually do this time of year, an eagle in the tall white pine on the lake side of our house and, as I left to show my wife the moose, a pileated woodpecker landed on a tree in front. I won’t burden you with separate reports on those, though. Besides, it will take something pretty special to top young Bullwinkle.