Moose

It was another cloudy and cool morning yesterday. We had rain again - .25 inches - and rather than waste a day off, we decided to take a drive to try and find a large moose that had been spotted in the southern part of the Teton National Park. We took the route through Teton Village to the west of Jackson which is mostly a gravel road through a heavily wooded area of the park in the southern-most portion.

Here is a shot of the Tetons, with the clouds hiding the peaks:

Our drive through Teton Village and along the Moose-Wilson road took us through the gravel areas and wooded sections, but there were also areas of clearing along swamps and creeks. We came across this particular area where cars were lined up along the side of the road - a sure sign that wildlife was present.

We parked along the side of the road and walked along a short path to this clearing, where we could see a bull moose in the distance:

 

Sure enough, it was a huge bull, and was probably the same bull we spotted a couple months ago while he was still in velvet:

He was in no hurry to go anywhere, so we waited around until he stood up and began moving around.

As soon as he stood, we could see that he was a trophy size bull and one of the largest we have seen anywhere:

He was obviously in this area to prepare scrapes to attract females for the mating season, which is taking place now. We caught several poses of him preparing these scrapes and have this one where he is beginning to "scrape" an area prior to urinating on the spot:

All males in the deer family - deer, elk and moose - perform this ritual at this time of the year.

We watched him for quite awhile before moving on. Just before leaving this area a small black bear was seen running through the bushes and across the road. Josie saw him and I just caught a glimpse, but neither of us could get close enough to get any pictures. Our search for bears continues without a picture this year.

Before heading home, we traveled on a road behind the barns on Mormon Row where we have seen lots of elk and bison. Sure enough, we spotted a small herd of bison in the meadow behind the barns:

 



 

It was a nice, short drive on a bad weather day. We are in the middle of another wet pattern and the forecast is for more rain today. We need to go to the grocery store today, so maybe we can combine that trip with another activity before we head back to work tomorrow...