Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Moose Muisance Musings!




Redbush and neighbours in her subdivision have been experiencing moose visitations as of late. Quite some time ago the moose were using Redbush's pickup for a salt lick and were hanging around until Redbush washed her truck. She thought they had disappeared until they showed up later to do the same thing when her pickup got salt on it again. This winter, the neighbours have been having loads of problems with the moose inviting their friends to join them using all the favourite fruit trees as their brunch food. Dogs, and bear-bangers don't seem to faze them when they're in the yards. This morning when Redush talked to some of her neighbours, she had reports of a moose bedding down close to their back deck. Apparently this is an ongoing occasion . When the neighbour tried to scare it away using articles like pots and pans , or blocks of wood , banging them together, it just got up only to chew on the trees again, and amble on its way again when it was full. The one neighbour tells of a cow moose and her calves in her back yard chewing on their trees and plants. Behind this family was her supposed moose calf from a few years back who decided that it was still not time to leave mama's apron strings. Mama taught him a lesson by beating him with her front hoofs. This same neighbour thought it was her husband putting hand prints on her windows when he was shovelling snow. She later found out that they were moose nose prints! When Redbush and Mr. Redbush came back the other evening from quadding out back on their snowy trails, a moose had just left their yard only to stand off watching as they went by. It was lucky they had Bonzi on the quad, and not running. It worries Redbush when she takes Bonze for a walk on the dog trails, especially when it's dark because one of the moose has seemingly stomped a dog to death about a month ago on the road into the subdivision. She knows that a flashlight won't fend him off in this case! The neighbours have phoned the "Fish and Wildlife Department" to complain and to see if they could get any help to rid them from the neighbourhood, but, the department has been ignoring their calls. Redbush's neighbour took these pictures of the moose outside her window eating her clematis plants. She had to yell at it to get away for some time before it left. Here are the pictures that she sent me to reveal to all of you to see. If you look closely at the last picture, you can see the holes above the mooses's eyes showing you where he has just lost his antlers. Redbush hopes everyone has a safe but eventful week!

8 comments:

Hilary said...

Awww what a bold and beautiful critter. Glad you got some good shots.

solarity said...

He looks like he's thinking about coming inside!

Mary Anne in Kentucky

the Bag Lady said...

Goodness! I guess that when you live in the country (or a semi-rural setting) you have to put up with all manner of rudeness from other inhabitants. Including Peeping Bullwinkles!

Leah J. Utas said...

Excellent photos. Must be annoying, though, to have them about all the time.
Try putting mesh bags (as onions and oranges come in) around your plants. It supposedly turns off the deer so it might work for moose, too.

Redbush said...

Yes, Hilary! They are actually my favourite wildlife animals! They're so ugly, they're cute!


1

Redbush said...

They can become so bold, Solarity! It's almost as if they're domesticated. The neighbour lady tried to scare him away, but, to no avail while he munched on clematis.

Redbush said...

Yes, Bag Lady! This bullwinkle was bent on getting his supper before anyone had other plans for him. I guess the subdivision has more tasty plants than does the wild!

Redbush said...

Thanks, Leah! The neighbours have more problems with them than we do. We're crossing our fingers that he finds another more tasty morsel in another place!