Moose sighting

I would like to say I got a photo but i’m lucky it wasn’t a hood ornament on the truck.
Was on Hwy 53 last night just North of Cotton about 10:15. Moose was standing on the shoulder of the median, I was in the left lane. It was foggy and pitch black and I didn’t see him a bit until he was right there! If he would have been moving I would have gotten him for sure. Amazing how big those things are. My heart slowed down after about a hour. I was surprised to see him that far South but it is kinda swampy in that area.

Several spotted in and around Aitkin very cool.

Im glad you didn’t hit it. That could be a disaster.

We have land near Rice Lake Wildlife Refuge south of McGregor.
Our neighbors have a large piece of land that connects to endless swamp country. They regularly get moose pictures on trail camera and have for years. I was lucky enough to see two a couple years ago on a winter hike in that same area.
They’re definitely not limited to just the arrowhead region though I think the few living in the more southern areas are small populations isolated around large tracts of wild swamp country. Most of these areas are largely inaccessible for most people aside from winter logging operations.
That area south of McGregor has so much wild country there could be tons of moose back there and nobody would ever know.

My buddy lives just North of Virginia. He and his wife were driving home after a party one night, she was driving because he was not fit to do so. She wasnt driving fast, but something told my buddy to yell STOP. She slammed on the brakes and out of the darkness there is a huge cow moose. She would have drilled it if he hadnt yelled stop.

Lots of moose around Cotton/Medowlands area.

MY F-I-L hit one outside of Cook a few years ago. Fortunately it was a “little” 1 year old. Banged up his truck pretty good but it was fixable.

After I knew he was alright, my first question was if he got a carcass tag from the DNR to salvage it. Sadly he did not. Would have loved to have some fresh road-kill moose backstraps for the grill!

Our hunting shack is 7 miles ESE of Cotton. We regularly see moose tracks on the gravel road and fire trails. We get photos on trail cameras regularly, occasionally we will see one wandering down the fire trail that serves as our driveway.

Saw a video on FB of a small bull outside Oglivie this fall. We used to see dozens and dozens of them up by Ada and Mahnomen 20 years ago, but they were few and far between when we stopped hunting there 10ish years ago. Super cool animals and (other than while driving at night ) always fun to see!

One of my buddies lives in Montana and it’s not uncommon for there to be accidents with them, and they are often lethal particularly in a car as it takes out the legs and the body comes thru the cab.

saw these ones last weekend

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I love seeing moose in the wild. Such amazing animals.

I was driving my F-350, had I hit it there was no doubt it was coming through the windshield. Most times when you see a animal through your windows you look down a bit, not this one, I was looking straight at it. Just a split second and i’m past it.

Gorgeous beasts. I do an annual Canada fishing trip east of Atikokan and our regular guide says moose are very hard to come by anymore.

Wow, Aitkin and McGregor? Had no idea they were that far south. Good news. Hopefully some day they be like the bald eagle comeback and we won’t have to worry about them disappearing.

I saw one standing right on the west side white line in basically that exact spot 2 years ago returning from a fishing trip. They were doing road construction…it was foggy so the reflection of the orange cones made it difficult to see. At first all I saw was legs…My it was a big animal…

The gf got saw her first moose today on are ride to have lunch at the trestle inn. I am pretty sure that made her trip. Hopefully we can find one that wants it’s picture taken for her.

Would have put you right at my hunting shack. Melrude MN. We call it lovingly “smellrude”

Same area – near where the meadowlands hwy meets 53 this summer, we saw a dead calf on the shoulder of the road. That area always seems to have a few around.

Timmy wrote:

Same area – near where the meadowlands hwy meets 53 this summer, we saw a dead calf on the shoulder of the road. That area always seems to have a few around.

Interesting. Been traveling that stretch for 15+ years and never saw one before.

queenswake wrote:

Wow, Aitkin and McGregor? Had no idea they were that far south. Good news. Hopefully some day they be like the bald eagle comeback and we won’t have to worry about them disappearing.

Moose can’t get the protection they need from wolves like the eagles did from DDT.

I heard of one getting hit over the weekend. Or maybe more it charged the vehicle and hit it. Sounds like head down rammed the side of the truck. Trailer took it out. Randy’s wife’s comment this morning was” Asshole moose is going on my wall now”.

Have land ne of Meadowlands a few miles away from the sax-zim bog birding center and have seen tracks between there and cotton on multiple occasions. There’s a good pocket off the Whiteface River that always seems to have a few on some tax forfeited land.

This was taken this past week from a couple/three blocks from my musky partners house in Manitowish Waters 25 miles north of us. One of the nicer antlered bulls we’ve seen over the 25+ years I’ve lived here.

Mark

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The wolves need to be reigned in. They have about eliminated the moose, deer and now most beaver ponds are dead up on the North Shore.