Close encounter?
One of the pleasures and at times perils of living in the wilderness is chance encounters with animals. In the area around my cabin I have spent time with snowshoe hair, fox, lynx, martin, black bear and moose. There has been mornings when we first were building our homes that as I walked down the trail a moose and her young would follow alongside. It has been a while since these encounters. Granted they have walked all around my home but no really close encounter.
The other day while I was working in my kitchen area, I looked out the window and saw this moose. I grabbed my camera and proceeded to walk outside, not really thinking of the -25^ temperature. The moose startled at my approach started to move off down the hill! Then the camera protested the cold an would not turn on immediately. When it did the moose now more than 20 feet away went behind some birch trees, as my first two pictures revealed, a head poking out from behind the trees. The cold now settling in my old bones, I was in luck as the moose moved into an opening with only some smaller trees. The result is seen below. If the weather had been a bit warmer I could have just stood back and enjoyed this encounter, but for now I can always look at the photo and dream.
I like the picture anyway, Pete. Lots of color contrasts and the animal is facing the sun.
I had a few close ones with animals while working on the pipeline, including a grizzly which tried to get into my school bus at Old Man camp when I was standing on the top step!
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I’ll try posting again. I like the picture anyway, Pete. Nice color contrasts and the moose is facing the sun.
I had a few close encounters with wildlife while working on the pipeline including a grizzly which tried to enter my schoolbus at Old Man camp when I was on the top step!
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When my Son and Daughter in law were liviing on Ft. Wainwright, they had a mama moose and her baby living in the woods right in back of their house near the Chena River. We have pics of them coming right up the side of the house, where if we had opened the window, we could have touched them. They were not at all afraid of people being all around them, and would wander on the street in the early morning hours. We did NOT approach them in any way, however, as we had read so many stories of getting between mama and baby, and having mama get upset and attack. I think seeing the wildlife “up close and personal” was my favorite part of visiting, and what I would love to see and experience in living like you do. Thanks for the pic.
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Nice photo, Pete. What a gorgeous looking day! – bright and clear – and cold.
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Did you try “here moosie, moosie, moosie!”
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