Yard visitor

[skychaser]

I see a couple of these every year but never had one come inside the fenced yard before. I left a gate open when we came in from the field to escape the 100 degree heat recently and work inside on some seed orders for the afternoon. When we went back out this little fellow was napping in the shade of my elm tree 20 feet from the porch. He didn't seem to care much about us, but eventually got annoyed by our cameras clicking away and having his nap interrupted and wandered off down the hill towards the creek. He was as tall as I am or more. An easy 6'3" at the shoulder.

 

[FrostD]

That’s quite the surprise! I think we need to discuss your definition of “little fellow”! Ha ha ha. Awesome pics @skychaser !

 

[HillDweller]

Nice pictures. Moosen are some of the few native American creatures I have yet to see in the wild. Also grizzlies.

 

[Alpine]

See how lucky you are… excluding little birds and lizards, the only visitor I have in my yard is the neighbor’s cat.

pier

 

[deluxestogie]

how lucky you are

I'm sure @skychaser will send you the moose, if you pay the shipping.

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

What is shipping to fl? Packed neatly on ice i hope! Lol

 

[skychaser]

See how lucky you are… excluding little birds and lizards, the only visitor I have in my yard is the neighbor’s cat.

pier

yah, Lucky. I've been looking over my shoulder every two minutes when I am outside ever since we saw him. A little spotted fawn came walking out of the bushes yesterday and it made me jump. :O

 

[HillDweller]

yah, Lucky. I've been looking over my shoulder every two minutes when I am outside ever since we saw him. A little spotted fawn came walking out of the bushes yesterday and it made me jump. :O

Yeah, you do need to be careful.

 

[Knucklehead]

I see a couple of these every year but never had one come inside the fenced yard before. I left a gate open when we came in from the field to escape the 100 degree heat recently and work inside on some seed orders for the afternoon. When we went back out this little fellow was napping in the shade of my elm tree 20 feet from the porch. He didn't seem to care much about us, but eventually got annoyed by our cameras clicking away and having his nap interrupted and wandered off down the hill towards the creek. He was as tall as I am or more. An easy 6'3" at the shoulder.

Beautiful animal.

 

[MadFarmer]

My sister in law spent her early childhood in Alaska and remembered school being started late due to loose moose in the neighborhood.

 

[tullius]

It's the females ya gotta really keep an eye on as they wander around in roads and backyards, or you wander around in the bush. Ran into and got (fortunately) bluff charged by a big cow just outside Fairbanks. She was mad enough she'd have run right through the spindly trees we tucked behind as we drew our weapons. That event ended peacefully. Side note: I acquired a keen taste for moose breakfast sausage while up there: still crave that stuff. You get a whole lotta of meat from one of the big ones

 

[tullius]

to escape the 100 degree heat

Looks like he had the same idea

 

[skychaser]

It's the females ya gotta really keep an eye on as they wander around in roads and backyards, or you wander around in the bush. Ran into and got (fortunately) bluff charged by a big cow just outside Fairbanks. She was mad enough she'd have run right through the spindly trees we tucked behind as we drew our weapons. That event ended peacefully. Side note: I acquired a keen taste for moose breakfast sausage while up there: still crave that stuff. You get a whole lotta of meat from one of the big ones

Cows with calves are one of the most dangerous animals there are. They will go out of their way to stomp you to death if they even suspect you could be a threat to their calves! Once the calves get some size to them at 3-4 months old they mellow out a bit. I lived in Alaska many years ago. I was more afraid of cow moose than the grizzly bears. And I was plenty scared of the bears! More people are killed by moose in AK than bears.

 

[deluxestogie]

I've never set foot in Alaska (or Idaho or Hawaii). On one trip to the "Arrowhead" of northern Minnesota, I had a moose pacing alongside the driver's window of my car, as I drove on an uphill, blacktop road within a half-mile of the boundary lake. Then, like a distracted driver, the moose suddenly cut in front of me, and ran off into the trees. (I didn't notice whether it was a boy or a girl moose.) The owner of the lodge where I was staying said that a few years earlier, the same thing happened to him, except the moose actually crossed over his hood, crushing it with both a front and back hoof, on its way off into the trees.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

And I was plenty scared of the bears! More people are killed by moose in AK than bears.

They say that... think that's only cause moose don't eat the bodies

Years ago I was out fishing in the Rockies on a beautiful mountain lake in Colorado. A young bull moose comes out and starts wadding into the water on the other side. I watch him and keep him fishing. He starts swimming out to a little peninsula, climbs up out of the water and gets into some thick some brush. About fifteen minutes pass and this fisherman starts walking out on the peninsula. I stop fishing and move a little higher up on the bank to get a better vantage point to watch the show. The nice guy in me is thinking I should shout a warning to the the guy but I'm hesitant to yell and possibly agitate the moose. The guy fishing passes with ten feet of the moose and is oblivious the whole time. The moose hardly looks at him. The dude keeps fishing and walking along the bank and finally makes it to the other side of the peninsula. The moose eventually waded back out and left the way he came in.
I'm not sure but I think the moral of the story was the fishing sucked. I didn't catch much that day. The moose was fun to watch though.

 

[skychaser]

That’s quite the surprise! I think we need to discuss your definition of “little fellow”! Ha ha ha. Awesome pics @skychaser !

You should see the big ones! The creek that runs through my property is part of a wildlife corridor that connects Mt. Spokane and the surrounding foothills to the east with the Little Spokane river to the west which is a wildlife refuge area. I've seen just about everything that lives around here pass through. I've had badgers on my front porch and even had river otters pass through the yard. One day I saw an otter come in one gate and lope across the yard and go out another gate. (I gotta remember to start closing those gates) I even had a pet porcupine for a winter who we fed apples to every day for over 4 months. He would sit on the porch waiting for his daily apple. The silly thing followed me around like a puppy. We named it Cuddles. When spring came and things greened up Cuddles went back to the normal life of being a porcupine. You never know what you'll see when you step out the door here. I had 5 big tom turkeys resting in the shade where the moose was yesterday.

 

[Knucklehead]

You should see the big ones! The creek that runs through my property is part of a wildlife corridor that connects Mt. Spokane and the surrounding foothills to the east with the Little Spokane river to the west which is a wildlife refuge area. I've seen just about everything that lives around here pass through. I've had badgers on my front porch and even had river otters pass through the yard. One day I saw an otter come in one gate and lope across the yard and go out another gate. (I gotta remember to start closing those gates) I even had a pet porcupine for a winter who we fed apples to every day for over 4 months. He would sit on the porch waiting for his daily apple. The silly thing followed me around like a puppy. We named it Cuddles. When spring came and things greened up Cuddles went back to the normal life of being a porcupine. You never know what you'll see when you step out the door here. I had 5 big tom turkeys resting in the shade where the moose was yesterday.

I call those good neighbors.

 

[Alpine]

Surely better than the ones I have.

pier

 

[FrostD]

You should see the big ones! The creek that runs through my property is part of a wildlife corridor that connects Mt. Spokane and the surrounding foothills to the east with the Little Spokane river to the west which is a wildlife refuge area. I've seen just about everything that lives around here pass through. I've had badgers on my front porch and even had river otters pass through the yard. One day I saw an otter come in one gate and lope across the yard and go out another gate. (I gotta remember to start closing those gates) I even had a pet porcupine for a winter who we fed apples to every day for over 4 months. He would sit on the porch waiting for his daily apple. The silly thing followed me around like a puppy. We named it Cuddles. When spring came and things greened up Cuddles went back to the normal life of being a porcupine. You never know what you'll see when you step out the door here. I had 5 big tom turkeys resting in the shade where the moose was yesterday.

Sounds like an amazing plot of land there! Growing up we had a house in the suburbs of Madison, WI. The backyard however opened up to a nature preserve area, which was fairly marshy/ wetlands. We would see a rafter or flock of 15-24 Wild Turkeys, herds of deer, bales of turtles, frogs & toads all over, and 2 adult cranes, which eventually became 5 or so after the babies came. This is all outside of the regular wildlife you’d see in that kind of habitat.

Now living in a different suburb area about 20 min north of the folks place, we see toads, blue jays, cardinals, finches, morning doves, grackles (dislike the grackles a bit), and 1 albino squirrel that likes to tour the neighborhood. Thought I saw a dark furred ferret looking thing the other day running up the neighbors driveway a couple weeks back. Also, this year birds have been dying here and there which has been a little surprising. This is in addition to some dead moles we’ve been finding while mowing the yard. If I was to see a moose in my backyard, I’d love it, but also scratch my head thinking how the heck did it get this far! Have 2 boxer dogs that would probably “want to become friends” with it though. Lol!

 

[Radagast]

Males during mating season "the rut" are surely the most dangerous and aggressive animal out there. They will run you down and kill you for no good reason. Pretty dopey the rest of the year though..