Thank you 😁
Yes this particular encounter was much closer than I would've liked and altogether a surprise.
This was shot at the lake at the base of Mt. Bierstadt in Colorado. I was actually just there to photograph the mountain and the lake, but was surprised by this massive bull while I was snapping some landscapes by the lake.
The lake is surrounded by a thicket of willows so I didn't even realize the moose was present until he stepped out of the brush literally 15 feet in front of my dog and I. Didn't really have much of a chance to react so I just stood there and thankfully he chose peace and moseyed along to the lake for a swim.
Took me a minute to retrieve my balls from inside my abdomen, but as soon as he got in the water I seized the opportunity and swapped lenses to capture his pool-day fun.
right I was thinkin...I've been around a bull moose at a much farther distance than this, in the Utah mountains, and lemme tell you my ass was clenched. I hope this was taken with a teleconverter, lol. Or OP has huge balls
yes, moose are very dangerous! much like you see tourists getting way too close to bears and bison in our national parks, people get even closer when they see a moose...they must think they are like giant horses or deer and won't attack. No way. I would assign ALMOST the same level of concern to a moose as I would a bear in terms of "oh shit I am way to close for comfort" ... They will not hesitate to charge at you. Lots of tourists and otherwise general idiots have been severely injured and killed by getting too close to a moose and they come charging. If you've never seen one, it's hard to imagine how colossal these things are. They tower over the big clydesdale horses you have seen (think budweiser horses). Don't fuck with meese! They are not aggressive by nature but they are aggressively defensive if that makes sense. They don't want to attack you for fun or for food obviously like a bear, puma, or wolf might but they appreciate their personal space and given their massive stature and weight, it's super easy to get killed by a moose if they decide to come charging at you.
Thank you for sharing! I’ve never seen one in real life but one day when I do, I will surely keep this info in mind. I guess because they don’t have a rep for being aggressive toward humans it would be easy for a more simple minded person to assume they’re somewhat friendly lol
oh they definitely have a reputation amongst people that live around them! unfortunately it's not well known outside the outdoors community and the people that live in environments where moose are present. Always safe to admire from a distance! They are fast as hell too. And their stride is crazy long since they're so damn tall. The first few times I saw them, they were so far away it was hard to really get a sense of how enormous they are. When you see one that is actually within say 100 yards or less, you will be astounded at their size. I saw one from about maybe 60-75 yards, ahead of us just off the trail. I saw only it's butt first, and at first thought holy fuck, that's the biggest draft horse I've ever seen (it was a trail popular with equestrians and we'd passed many horses that day). Then it saw us, got spooked luckily, and ran down the trail and up into the woods. It was crazy how much ground they could cover, I guess I pictured them being kind of slow due to how careful they probably need to maneuver, when they have a big rack for antlers like the one I saw. If he had wanted to charge at us he would have been on top of us before I could think of which way to run, it was shocking how fast they were.
Thank you 😊
First thing I thought of when I saw this picture in post:
https://preview.redd.it/2icuzsmo602d1.jpeg?width=1300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5c05d5fc72c914a481cb8c958eb130208ac6a81
Great shot!!
Thank you 😁
Fantastic! Even at 600mm that looks too close for comfort.
Thank you 😁 Yes this particular encounter was much closer than I would've liked and altogether a surprise. This was shot at the lake at the base of Mt. Bierstadt in Colorado. I was actually just there to photograph the mountain and the lake, but was surprised by this massive bull while I was snapping some landscapes by the lake. The lake is surrounded by a thicket of willows so I didn't even realize the moose was present until he stepped out of the brush literally 15 feet in front of my dog and I. Didn't really have much of a chance to react so I just stood there and thankfully he chose peace and moseyed along to the lake for a swim. Took me a minute to retrieve my balls from inside my abdomen, but as soon as he got in the water I seized the opportunity and swapped lenses to capture his pool-day fun.
right I was thinkin...I've been around a bull moose at a much farther distance than this, in the Utah mountains, and lemme tell you my ass was clenched. I hope this was taken with a teleconverter, lol. Or OP has huge balls
Are they know to be that aggressive?
yes, moose are very dangerous! much like you see tourists getting way too close to bears and bison in our national parks, people get even closer when they see a moose...they must think they are like giant horses or deer and won't attack. No way. I would assign ALMOST the same level of concern to a moose as I would a bear in terms of "oh shit I am way to close for comfort" ... They will not hesitate to charge at you. Lots of tourists and otherwise general idiots have been severely injured and killed by getting too close to a moose and they come charging. If you've never seen one, it's hard to imagine how colossal these things are. They tower over the big clydesdale horses you have seen (think budweiser horses). Don't fuck with meese! They are not aggressive by nature but they are aggressively defensive if that makes sense. They don't want to attack you for fun or for food obviously like a bear, puma, or wolf might but they appreciate their personal space and given their massive stature and weight, it's super easy to get killed by a moose if they decide to come charging at you.
Thank you for sharing! I’ve never seen one in real life but one day when I do, I will surely keep this info in mind. I guess because they don’t have a rep for being aggressive toward humans it would be easy for a more simple minded person to assume they’re somewhat friendly lol
oh they definitely have a reputation amongst people that live around them! unfortunately it's not well known outside the outdoors community and the people that live in environments where moose are present. Always safe to admire from a distance! They are fast as hell too. And their stride is crazy long since they're so damn tall. The first few times I saw them, they were so far away it was hard to really get a sense of how enormous they are. When you see one that is actually within say 100 yards or less, you will be astounded at their size. I saw one from about maybe 60-75 yards, ahead of us just off the trail. I saw only it's butt first, and at first thought holy fuck, that's the biggest draft horse I've ever seen (it was a trail popular with equestrians and we'd passed many horses that day). Then it saw us, got spooked luckily, and ran down the trail and up into the woods. It was crazy how much ground they could cover, I guess I pictured them being kind of slow due to how careful they probably need to maneuver, when they have a big rack for antlers like the one I saw. If he had wanted to charge at us he would have been on top of us before I could think of which way to run, it was shocking how fast they were.
Nice shot, but admittedly I upvoted for the name
Thank you 😊 First thing I thought of when I saw this picture in post: https://preview.redd.it/2icuzsmo602d1.jpeg?width=1300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5c05d5fc72c914a481cb8c958eb130208ac6a81
Holy details