Bull Moose – Big Game Habitat Hunting and Fascinating Facts!
Moose are generally associated with northern forests in North America, Europe, and Russia. These forest-loving animals, prefer home with thick timber and numerous lakes and swamps. Moose are well-suited to, and at there best in the water. Despite their staggering bulk, they are very strong swimmers, and have been known to dive underwater to depths of 13 feet in search of aquatic plants from the bottom. They are primarily cud chewing vegetation browsers.
Winter is a time of hunger for the moose. Their winter diet is needle bearing trees, hardwood bark, pine cones, buds, twigs, and branches, while in summer they feed on the leaves of trees and shrubs, on aquatic plants, forest grasses, and diverse herbs. They are strictly vegetarian, and often seek out the young saplings, and tender bark, but are able to adjust to a vast variety of available forage. Deer, elk, and even rabbits and beaver contend with the moose for food. An adult in winter eats 22 to 30 lbs of food a day, and more than 66 lbs a day during the summer and spring seasons. During the summer months, bulls spend about 25% of their energy growing antlers. In preparation for winter a moose will increase body weight by about twenty-five percent. As winter draws close, moose grow a thicker coat.
Moose are the largest of all the deer species, and one of the largest mammals in North America. Bulls grow to over 9 feet long, six feet tall at the withers, with typical weights well over 1,000 pounds. They are a cloven hoofed mammal with a broad, drooping muzzle that overhangs their mouth. Moose also have a beard-like flap of useless skin under their chin called a dewlap or bell. They have a dark brown, shaggy, course coat, and are long-legged with a short neck, massive shoulders, a sloping rump, and a short tail. The front legs are longer than the hind legs. Bull moose have a dark brown to black muzzle, while the cow moose’s face is light brown. During the winter they turn a grayish color, helping to camouflage them in the snowy expanse. Males produce heavy grunting sounds that can be heard from up to 1000 feet away, while females produce high pitched sounds. Most moose make periodic movements for calving, rutting, and wintering, and are most active from dusk to midnight.and again around sunrise.
Moose are distinguished by the “”palmate”” (flattened like a hand) antlers of the males. They initially have a soft fuzzy skin called “”velvet,”” which is shed once the antlers become fully developed. This velvet has nutrient rich blood vessels in it that help the antlers grow. Moose antlers take three to five months to fully grow. They may grow as much as three-quarters of an inch per day, making them one of the fastest growing animal organs. By late summer when the antlers reach full size, the nutrient rich blood supply dries up and the velvet begins to drop off. After the antlers are completely developed, they are solid bone, and may weigh as much as 50 pounds, and have perhaps more than 30 points.
These antlers can eventually span more than 6 feet. Antlers from mature bulls are dropped after the mating season as early as November, but mostly in December and January, and as late as April. This helps the bulls to conserve energy for the long winter. They are regrown each spring. Typically the next rack being larger than the previous rack. Antlers are a sign of male fitness and health, and are primarily used to demonstrate mating supremacy. If a bull moose is unsexed, either by accident or chemically, he will rapidly shed his current set of antlers and then straightaway begin to grow a new set of malformed, or deformed antlers that he will wear the rest of his life, never shedding again. After antlers are shed, they usually are gnawed or devoured by woodland rodents for their rich calcium content.
Moose are for the most part solitary, and are generally quite docile animals, They have a deep call and a strong scent. They are less gregarious than elk, so one moose may simply mean one moose. But particularly during the rut and through the winter months they commonly form small family groups. Moose are not usually aggressive towards humans, but can be provoked or frightened to behave with aggression. While a male may use its antlers to hold off a predator, a moose’s sharp hooves are its first line of defense. They are able to kick out in all directions, but generally use their front feet.
Moose are fun to watch, but safety while watching is essential. Always watch from a safe and respectful distance. They are bigger and faster than any person, capable of running up to 35 mph, and give little warning before attacking a sensed threat. Bulls thrash brush and bark with their antlers, marking their territory, and if they think you are a threat, they will charge you even if they seem tame or passive. Moose are likely to treat dogs just as they do wolves.
Moose are hunted as a game species in many of the countries where they are located, and are typically hunted from an hour or so before sunrise until sunset, when they are most active. The trophy sized bulls are stalked by venturesome hunters who lure them by imitating their calls with birch bark horns. Moose generally start to produce trophy-size antlers when they are about 6 or 7 years old, with the biggest antlers produced at between 10 to 12 years of age.
The beginning of the rut in August is apparent by the broken brush and stripped bark as the bull moose scrape the velvet off from their antlers. By September and October, bull moose bellow loudly to attract mates. They build rutting pits that also serve to attract the females by splashing urine around in the pit. The females are greatly attracted to bull moose scent. As the bulls prepare to mate, their antlers stop growing. They do not eat much during the rut and lose significant weight.
Adult males, contend for the females, during the rut by bringing their antlers together and pushing or jousting other bulls. A bull in poor health is unable to grow large antlers, and in this way antlers are a dependable indication of his fitness and mating superiority. After one to two days together, the cows leave, and the bull begins searching for another female. Bulls may mate with five or six females during the rut. Bull moose are able to breed as yearlings, but most do not until they are older and can compete with other larger bulls. After the rut several bulls may be seen eating together to fatten up for the upcoming winter.
Cow moose have no antlers and are about 25 percent smaller than the bulls, and they appear even more bony and clumsy. Cows give birth to one or two calves in the spring. New mothers typically birth only one calf. Three calves, or triplets are not common. Newborn calves have a reddish brown coat, with no spots, that will darken with age. They are born any time from the middle of May to early June weighing 20-25 pounds after a gestation period of about 8 months. A newborn calf will start tasting different foods within a few weeks of their birth, and by early August they eat large amounts of vegetation. Moose calves can stand in a day, and swim within a couple of weeks. These calves grow rapidly and can outrun a person by the time they are five days old. A bull calf may develop button antlers during its first year. By late summer or early fall the antlers are fully developed and are hard and bony. Year old bulls usually have spike antlers, and the antlers of two year olds are bigger and usually flat at the ends. Calves are weaned after about six months and stay with their mother for the first year of their life, or until her next young are born. Shortly before the mother cow gives birth again, she will drive her yearling calf away.
Moose are susceptible to a tiny parasite known as brainworm that infects the nervous system and usually causes death. Deer, elk and goats also host the parasite, but they are unharmed because their blood vessels are narrow, keeping the worm from doing damage. Moose also die from severe infestations of winter ticks.
Moose are attracted to salt licks caused by winter road management, so it is not surprising to see them on or very near the road. Moose are very hard to see at night. The coloration of their dark coat makes them nearly invisible after sundown, and extremely difficult to see in the roadway. They are so tall that an automobile will usually pass under the body, causing it to come over the hood into the windshield and roof. Their eyes are usually above the reach of car headlights, and do not reflect back to the driver unlike the eyes of a deer.
Other than man, the main predators of the moose are wolves, and black, brown, and grizzly bears. The bears feed off from the very young calves and the older adults. A mature, healthy moose has few enemies, but a pack of wolves can still be a menace, especially to cow moose with calves. Protective cow moose have been known to kill wolves, grizzlies, black bear, and people in defense of their calves.
Cow moose have been known to live for as long as 20 years, however bull moose generally don’t live longer than 15 years. In spite of the “”not very handsome”” reputation they have, and probably deservedly so, there is a certain intrigue that follows this “”Monarch of the Forest””.
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