I Saw a Moose!

This morning as I was leaving to drive to work, I was no more than 200 feet from my driveway when I saw something to the right. My first thought was “My goodness, that’s a big dog. Maybe it’s a Great Dane or Wolfhound?”. As I got closer I realized it was a moose!

My guess is this was a young female, 2 years old at the most. Female moose, called “cows”, have a brown face and dark body and the males, the “bulls”, have a black face. Moose have “bells”, skin flaps found on the neck. A cow’s bell looks more like a tuft of hair, whereas a bull’s bell is larger and rounder. My moose was young enough so that the bell was barely noticeable. She looked rather nervous. While I was stopped at the base of the road, I tried to see whether there was another with her – maybe a mother?

It may not be a big deal but I really enjoy seeing Vermont’s wildlife. Every Spring I look forward to the pair of ducks that come to the pond outside the old movie theatre in town. I consider it sign that the day will go well when I see them in the morning! We have a pair of Loons at my family’s camp on Greenwood Lake. I take Simba for our “Sunday Girl Time” walk in the fields by the Warren Elementary School. I’ve never seen any wildlife while we’re there but there are usually plenty of animal tracks. This past Sunday I found tracks that were the unmistakable signs of an adult moose. The front hoof width for a prime bull is about 5 inches, for a cow just under 4 inches, and for a calf just under 3 inches.

Now if only I had my digital camera this morning!!