My instincts served me well today by venturing off trail at exactly the right moment, but what do you do when the moose is happy as can be just sleeping? You wait and wait. This happens from time to time and it's at least the second time recently when a hiker came along and changed the situation in my favor, thankfully.
I reached a patch of willows at 11,200 ft and decided to veer north. After only about 100 feet further, I noticed a couple moose ears poking out above the willows! He was bedded down, and had no idea that I was there. I typically like moose to know that I'm there, but in cases like these I also don’t want to risk spooking him or spoiling the photo opp. So, I just hang out and hope that the moose sees me or something changes for a better photograph. The last bull that I saw was also in this patch of willows, but he ran away immediately.
This bull had very small antlers, but that's about all I could tell. After nearly an hour, he hadn't moved an inch. A hiker approached which finally got the moose's attention. The hiker didn't see me or the moose, but his trekking poles did get the moose's attention. The moose perked up and watched the hiker for a moment, but then he noticed me! I was MUCH closer than the hiker, about 50 feet from the moose versus ~150 feet away where the noise was coming from.
At this point, the bull slowly stands up with his eyes intently on me. It was a good sign that he didn’t spring up quickly, and after just a few more seconds it was clear he didn’t have any concerns about my presence. He relieved himself of a lot of willows that were finished digesting, and briefly grazed on some more before laying back down. It was amazing how he completely disappeared, even though he only moved a few feet.
I stuck around and watched to see if he would get back up and graze some more. The backdrop was great, but the light was really high in the sky with tough shadows. I hiked around some more, and came back to find him in the same hidden spot. After ~2 more hours of waiting, I decided to call it a day. I’ll go back up there in a day or two in hopes of getting some better shots of him and his buddies up there.
