If you hadn't already noticed I have a thing about mooses. Is it mooses, meese, or moose? Whatever...But why? Because I've driven most of the way across Canada twice, seen dozens of road signs warning about moose but never once at any point had I ever seen a moose.
So during my visit to Grand Teton National Park in October 2009 I made it my mission to find and photograph a moose.
My day started with a walk around the small tourist town of Jackson Hole. A photographic gallery caught my eye. I got chatting with the owner and photographer David Brookover (www.brookovergallery.com). His work is simply stunning, a true inspiration to me. I told David my moose story, at which point he shouted across the street to a local reporter friend who happened to be passing. He gave me some inside information about where some mooses had been spotted that morning.
So off I trot, a few miles up the road, turned right, spent an hour drive around in the now heavily falling snow, and no mooses.
Bugger.
Time was getting on, the snow was still falling and I had 3 hours till sunset.
Deciding I had nothing to loose I took a bit of a punt and drove 45 minutes to the northern end of the park to the area around Oxbow Bend. It was then more by luck than judgement my moose adventure began. I spotted across the river a couple of people out of their car, they were looking at something in the bushes. I drove over.
MOOOOOSE!
At first all we saw was a mother with baby but then as more people joined us (at least 20 cars pulled up) someone said they'd see a male hiding in the rushes. True enough, a few moments later out popped the beast pictured above.
I got the photo I wanted by taking another gamble and leaving the crowd to head back to the main road. My luck was in when a few minutes later he crossed the road in front of me. I was a tad nervous, what with me being the closest to him, and him being so damn big, but I was so happy to get my shot.
Now I can partly understand the rush that hunters must get when shooting these magnificent beasts, but at least with my way of shooting he'll still be there tomorrow for others to have their shot.
5 comments:
Fantastic image Michael, still feels like Mooses is the wrong word though lol. Sometimes a gamble pays off.
Excellent photo Mike.....is a Moose the same as a Caribou?.....Reminds me of that advert a few years ago where the guy says, "It's a Moosehead, I hate Mooseheads".
Great picture and good story to go with it. You should talk more about how you get your shots - never realised you put quite so much effort into it.
Moose is moose i think. Not sure what a caribou is. I'm sure Google has the answers though :) Thanks for your comment.
A caribou is another name ( inuit name ) for a reindeer as far as I know in the same way that buffalo is for bison.
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