[LRflex] Re: moose story
- From: David Young <telyt@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2007 08:50:13 -0700
At 08/08/2007, you wrote:
David Young <telyt@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>http://www.wildlightphoto.com/mammals/artiodactyls/moose.html
>>
>>my departure from this location is one of my better stories ;-)
>
>
>So... are you going to tell it? :-)
>
From the draft of my book:
The Alaskan moose, Alces alces gigas, is the largest of the moose
subspecies, reaching 6' at the withers; a cow moose defending her
calf can kill a grizzly bear with her front hooves. I hadn't
intended to photograph moose on this particular day, in fact I had
been looking for the Three-toed Woodpecker when I sat on a log by
the lake to wait, watch and listen. Before long, four moose emerged
from the forest to graze in the lake: two yearlings to the far left,
and a cow moose with her calf to my right. The yearlings kept their
distance, but the cow and calf meandered closer as they grazed.
I made a few photos, then, realizing how close the huge animals had
come, I quietly packed my camera and mulled over the possibilities:
1) perhaps the moose didn't know I was there, and if I stand to walk
away I might startle her, causing her to charge. If I sit quietly
she might reverse course and wander away.
2) the moose knows I was there and doesn't mind. In this case I
should be able to stand and walk away without causing a commotion.
While pondering these exit strategies the moose presented me with a
third scenario: she looked at me, lowered her head, and stamped her
feet. Little balls of fire, impending thermonuclear explosions,
were barely contained within her eyes. The message was clear:
"You're too close".
Tecnically it was the moose that was too close because it was she
who moved toward me, but I wasn't in a position to argue the
point. It's surprising how quickly one can run through a spruce
forest with waterlogged hiking boots, 20 pounds of camera gear and a
quart of bug repellant, particularly considering that an hour
earlier the forest was nearly impassible. All it takes is the
proper motivation.
During my flight through the forest there was considerable splashing
and thrashing from behind but I never turned to see if it was the
yearlings or the cow moose making that racket, nor whether the
animal in question was running toward me or away.
Good Mornin' Doug!
Your "flight" rather reminds me of a lesson I was taught, when
learning to fly. "Any landing you walk a way from, is a good
landing"! You walked away ... life is good! ;-)
Thanks for sharing a most interesting story!
Cheers!
---
David Young,
Logan Lake, CANADA
Wildlife Photographs: http://www.telyt.com/
Personal Web-pages: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt
Stock Photography at: http://tinyurl.com/2amll4
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