We are experiencing a fairly mild winter in Northern Alberta this year with not too much snow. I am assuming this is why there is so much more animal traffic than last winter. My husband’s feels that we should put up an animal crossing sign just past the tree line before the turn off to our place.
Almost every morning, as the sun rises, sometime between 9-10:30, we start to see deer or moose emerge from the trees lining the creek in the field across the road. We have windows along the one side of the house that faces the road. One of us will spot something and grab the binoculars but often they are close enough for us to view with the naked eye.
When you see a moose from the protection of your home, there is no fear. When you stumble upon them outdoors there is more of a “fight or flight” reaction. In early fall, I accidentally woke up two moose sleeping while walking on a path in our “forest”. They got up, and stampeded out of there so quickly that I had no time to react. My heart was racing because I was so startled.
A couple weeks ago I had another encounter with a female moose and her calf. This time I was out snowshoeing around 3pm when the sun is high in the sky and it is the warmest part of the day. I had snowshoed to the farthest corner of our property, came around the tree line and saw two moose standing on my trail staring at me. I counted the steps later to see how close they had been…50 steps. I stopped moving and started babbling to myself, “why didn’t you bring your phone”, “moose can run fast”, “hard to back up in snowshoes”. Then I spoke to the moose, “I am going to just turn around and go back the way I came. Please don’t chase me.” I did just that and decided to take the creek bypass to the front of the property. I figured if I got that far and was attacked, I could flag down a passing car. Halfway thru the creek, I turned around to check if I was being chased. The moose were again standing there staring at me at the edge of the field where I entered the creek…20 steps away now. I decided to keep going and moved as quick as I could without running. I didn’t look back until I got close to our house. I ran in to get my phone and cautiously walked through the trees to the field where the moose had been. They were almost in the same spot as when I last saw them…waiting for me. Eventually they moved on into the neighbour’s trees.
We watched a female with her calf chase another moose into our trees. I went out on the deck to take a photo and decided to try to distract the female by talking loudly to it. They must have a certain amount of curiosity because five hours later they came into the yard and right up to the deck where I had been standing. I had been out but I saw them later on our security cameras.
Earlier this week we saw a parade of eight deer walking down the road followed close behind by five bucks. Later in the day all of them were grazing in the field together across the road.
Another day we saw seven moose and eight deer. Some days the moose chase the deer and other days they graze in the same field close to each other.
A few pairs of moose have come into our yard. They have a fondest for smaller spruce trees. This one used to be about three feet tall.
They have damaged others by rubbing their heads on them.
All around our property we find evidence that deer or moose have bedded there for the night.
You can see the amount of animal traffic we get by the trails they have made through the field.
Today we had three moose saunter down the road then through our yard. The second moose seemed quite old with greying hair. The average lifespan of a moose is 10-12 years.
We definitely are getting more use out of our binoculars than we ever have before. It feels like a privilege to view these majestic creatures almost every day. Before living here, the only time we had ever seen a live moose was at the Toronto Zoo.
I am sure that I will not appreciate the deer and moose once we get our gardens started but for now I will keep watching and enjoying their presence.
Good filming and story.