Well, this isn’t something you see every day but I reckon it is just par for the course in Alaska.

We were driving through Anchorage heading to an outlying open space area that supposedly had a lot of moose. It turns out, we didn’t need to go that far before seeing one of the big guys.

This big fella was walking right down a suburban street, just moseying along, enjoying a beautiful summer day. The pics weren’t anything great but they do tell a funny story.

We just laughed and said, “Well, this is Alaska!”

It can be kind of embarrassing when you eat and end up wearing the meal as well. This big guy didn’t really seem to mind though. 😉

Taken a couple of weeks ago in Rocky Mountain National Park and today’s image for #MooseMonday.

This was the smaller of two bulls that had appeared at dawn. He waded right into the water and enjoyed a breakfast of lake plants, dipping his head down under water to grab a mouthful.

A very fun encounter yesterday morning with this big fella and another bull that was a good bit smaller.

It appeared as though this guy prodded the younger one out into public view as junior wanted to keep his distance from the senior bull.

The smaller one waded well into the water and spent a good bit of time feeding on plants near the surface of a lake, doing his best to avoid an ill-advised confrontation with the big boy.

The senior bull followed only to the water’s edge, took a quick drink, and then headed back into the woods. He definitely was an impressive moose, one of the bigger ones I have seen.

Certainly I would have preferred a shot from the front but I don’t expect moose butts offend too many folks. 😉 Taken in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

It seems the pictures of a moose losing its velvet elicit one of two responses: “cool” or “gross”. Which camp are you in? 😉

This is the same big guy that I shared a pic of this morning, albeit a bit more zoomed in. After having a slow moose season so far, this guy helped to make up for it by allowing me to observe it for more than an hour.

As I said with this morning’s post, I have a big lens and kept a respectful distance. If you get a shot like this with your cell phone, you are WAY too close!

Quite an intimidating view of this big boy, eh?

With the bloody remnants of its velvet hanging from its antlers, this moose bull definitely gets your attention. I was of course taking pictures with a very big lens from a safe distance when I saw him yesterday morning in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.

I haven’t had much luck getting pics of these favorites this year but this guy helped to redeem things a bit. I spent more than an hour watching him as he grazed on the willows just after the sunrise at 10,000 feet.

Getting the velvet off its antlers is the prelude to the annual rut which is just about ready to start. It may look uncomfortable but it is a natural process and one that doesn’t hurt the moose.

Experts say it is more of an irritant than anything to the big guys, even if it looks gross. I think it looks really cool and is perfect for #MooseMonday.  😉

Not a great pic but kind of a fun one.

This moose calf and its mom were hanging out with a massive bull in Colorado’s high country. The little one came over to say hi to the big guy and they enjoyed a cool little moment. I do have to wonder if they weren’t father and son / daughter.

The image does do a good job showing the difference in size. The calf is only about three months old and probably more than 50% bigger than it was at birth. While it is growing fast, it is dwarfed by the bull.

Well, this was a pleasant surprise this past Saturday and gives me some new pics for #MooseMonday.

We were camping at Golden Gate Canyon State Park (Colorado) and while the rest of my crew slept, I headed out at sunrise to see what I could find. Not two miles from camp I found this big guy enjoying breakfast. In fact, not only did I see him but with him were a cow, a calf and a young bull.

For more than an hour I observed and photographed them as they went about their morning routine. Light was pretty dim as the sun had yet to hit the forest floor so the pics aren’t as good as I would like but it was a fun encounter.

It isn’t necessarily surprising to find moose in this spot as they have a pretty wide range across western Colorado anymore but this was the first time I have seen any at this park.

My first moose of the season from this past Saturday. Check out this cutie!

I fully expected to see plenty of these high country residents in Arapaho National Forest this past weekend and indeed I did. Mama and her little one were by far the highlight, even if they didn’t give me any particularly great poses.

They were in a pretty busy area with lots of campers and mom wasn’t too keen to linger with all those pesky humans around. Soon after I spotted her, some other two-legged folks did as well and that was enough to prompt her little one to follow and head off deep into the forest.

I haven’t done #MooseMonday in a while so…

With its antlers freshly clean of the velvet, this big guy was anxious and ready and willing – but lacking a suitable target for his love. Something though got the attention of his nose and he was taking a serious smell of the air.

This is called the flehmen response. Many mammals will do this, curling their lips, raising their head and inhaling deeply allowing them to get a better sampling of a particular smell that interests them – kind of like a human taking a big whiff to smell something.

Taken last September in Arapaho National Forest, Colorado.