A nice close-up of this guy for Moose Monday. A lot of folks don’t fully appreciate how dangerous these big creatures of the forest can be. They may seem like slow and lumbering beasts but they can move extraordinarily fast when they want and are highly unpredictable.
During the rut, the males have hormones raging and are very irritable. Females, like any good mother, will not hesitate to protect their young. You certainly do not want to find yourself in a situation where an 800-pound moose is trying to stomp you!
As for this fellow, he was lazily grazing on willows in the Colorado high country early last month. While it is a close-up, I maintained a respectful distance, have a powerful zoom lens and the image is cropped a good bit.