Moose Encounters

Sometimes I don’t think I pay enough attention to the moose and wildlife I see up here - in more ways that one. The other day Paul drove me to the grocery store in Sterling and there in front of the doors were two moose. They were hanging out in the shrubs eating the plants. People were still going in and out the doors as if nothing special was going on. The customers were giving the moose their space, but didn’t seem to pay much attention to them.

A day or two later, we drove out to a hiking trail. On the way back, we saw easily over half a dozen moose on the side of the road. It was so common place that after the first three I didn’t even bother to count. I mean, why they’re everywhere and I was just going to see another in a few minutes.

Today I walked out my door and started walking to my car and as usual was not paying much attention to anything. A moose on the opposite side of my car, probably five yards away, starts running away and runs out of the parking area. Nothing too unusual. I see them all the time.

I didn’t think too much about it. Then I started thinking, there are two reasons I should probably pay more attention to the moose.

1 - They’re pretty cool. Not everyone gets the chance to see them everyday. I should appreciate what I get to see. I mean come on, it’s not everyone who gets to have a yard covered with moose poop and have the big guys hang out at their house. People from all over the world come here to see things like that and I get to do it everyday.

2 - (And probably most important.) Moose are big animals. If one of them decided to charge me, I’d end up flat as a pancake, with quite a few broken bones to boot. I should probably be more aware of what’s going on around me to avoid being trampled. Is it really smart to walk in a door a few yards from a moose or scare one out of the yard?

So, thanks to Paul, here some pictures of the moose at the store.





Ok, I took this one and now thinking that maybe getting this close wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But hey, at least I was in a car when I did it and didn’t just walk up to it.