The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

There are moose in Saskatchewan!

We never used to think that there would be any moose in Saskatchewan, and we remembered being surprised when we found out that there is! We haven't seen any here in the area near the campground, although we are told there is the occasional sighting.

This post is for Judy at http://travels-with-emma.blogspot.ca/2013/07/i-wanted-to-see-moose.html because she drove a long way in the hopes of seeing a moose yesterday, but they remained hidden!

So, here are our travel experiences that include moose sightings!

Way back in 1994 we did a two week family camping trip (in a tent!) to Newfoundland. One of the things we were excited about was the probable opportunity to see a moose! There are supposedly 150,000 moose  roaming the island of Newfoundland!

Ruth and our daughter Lindsey, camping in Newfoundland.
Prime countryside for moose sightings!

Unfortunately, all of the moose in Newfoundland let us down! We did not see one single moose, with the exception of the remains of a dead one.

Even though there are lots of moose in Ontario, they keep themselves well hidden. We actually saw one run across the road in front of us on a driving trip through Northern Ontario...but he was too quick to get a picture of.

And then it was in 2005 when we were driving through Algonquin Park in Ontario when we spotted this young fellow near the side of the road!

Bullwinkle!

In the fall of 2007, we set out with the motorhome to travel west across Canada. Didn't see a single moose going through Ontario, and then through Manitoba, and entering Saskatchewan. Of course most people have a view of Saskatchewan that is similar to today's header picture...flat, and without trees. Not good moose habitat!

Typical Saskatchewan.

And of course you would think that, well, of course there must be moose in Saskatchewan. After all, the town near this flat treeless landscape is called..."Moose Jaw"! (Coincidentally, my father was born in Moose Jaw!)

The moose who welcomes you to Moose Jaw!

On October 31st of 2007, we had made our way to Cypress Hills Provincial Park on the Saskatchewan/Alberta border. We were going for a hike on one of their trails when Ruth stopped me suddenly and said "whoa...look at that!"...

A big moose cow, having a rest in the woods.

She sat there and stared at us for a while. She was huge. We had our dog Whiskey with us at the time and we didn't want her  to be spooked. Either the dog or the moose! We took a wide berth around the big moose and she just watched us the whole time. Eventually, she stood up, but didn't seem interested in us at all.

We have twice seen moose in Nova Scotia, both times when we were on Cape Breton Island. The first time was in June of 2008 when we were hiking the Clyburn Valley Trail near Ingonish Beach. There were actually three young moose that we came across, all hanging out together. They were pretty nervous and didn't hang around long when they saw us.

Heading away from us.

The last time we spotted a moose was on a return visit to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. We were on the rarely used Branch Pond Lookoff Trail on June 15th, 2011 when we walked right past a mother moose looking after her very young calf who was lying on the ground. She was only about 20 feet away from us! And she was NOT happy that we were there. I took one quick photo and we slowly backed away from her...

This young mom had an odd blondish coloring!

We think moose are such funny looking creatures!

Once, we came across a huge bull moose...

Here's Ruth having a stare down with a huge bull moose! Oh, wait a minute...good thing he's stuffed. This was in a Cabela's store!

We hope you enjoyed today's post Judy!


26 comments:

  1. I have always wanted to see a moose.

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    1. We hope that you will get the chance to one day.

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  2. I've seen a couple at the side of the road over the years. Northern Ontario mostly. Once in New Brunswick. Them suckers is huge! Could barely keep my eyes on the road. Biggest fear is if they think they might want to cross in front of the vehicle.
    Very bad when that happens.

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    1. Nope don't want to be hitting one of them, that is for sure.

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  3. Saw lots of them in Edmonton around the outskirts, not many in Calgary. Had a few claims to adjust with respect to moose vs vehicle. not good.

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    1. Kevin has seen vehicles that have hit moose and usually they are written off, just too much damage.

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  4. By your title, I moosetakenly thought you saw one in your camp. ;) That would have really made me jealous. I've seen moose before, but it has been a number of years. I'm not giving up though. Thanks!

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    1. That would have been pretty cool. They have had deer and bear in the campground before, not since we have been here though.

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  5. We were not so lucky as you on Cape Breton Island...never saw a moose there! One day we will see one, we are not giving up!

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  6. Replies
    1. And that's only a cow imagine how big the males can get!

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  7. I saw only my second moose last week on a bike path in eastern Idaho. From a distance it looked and walked much like a horse. Only when I got closer I saw it was a cow moose!

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  8. I saw two moose walking into 'downtown' Banff, Alberta several years ago. They were just sauntering along; people nearby warned us to be very cautious and not disturb them. It was obvious THEY have the right-of-way! I was thrilled, but kept my distance.

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    1. Wow, lucky you! I have heard stories of them walking in downtown Ottawa and I believe a grocey store in British Columbia had one walk right into it and that was only in April of this year. Yep, whenever we have encountered them we keep our distance.

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  9. We have seen many in Algonquin park over the years.
    A Moose cow once charged our car at night as we were slowly making our way back to camp. We were not hurt but the car had a few scratches to say the least.

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    1. Yes, Algonqin Park sure has it's share of them. I remember you telling mentioning the story of the moose charging you, that would have been a bit scary, glad that only the car ended up with a few scratches it could have been worse.

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  10. Moose In Grocery Store: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ0U4oxcH7Q

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    1. Yep, saw that video back when it happened. Funny to watch the reaction of the people.

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  11. Sounds like the beginning of a joke: "So this moose walks into a grocery store..."

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  12. I've seen moose outside my living room window!!! I live in north Idaho, by Priest River!

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    1. That would be so cool to see. We have looked out our motorhome window and seen deer right outside the door but that is as big an animal we have seen from the motorhome.

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