Maine's Latest Arrival (Baby Moose)

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Well meet Maine's newest arrival, at least to the Moose Population here. For some reason this moose decided to have her baby right on the front lawn of a house in Windam, Maine. Its pretty much in Surburbia so it was rather a surprise for the homeowner and the next door neighbor that took the following photos. The same can be said for the timing of this baby. This is not the typical time for baby Moose to be born. Obviously this little one is going to have a rough time as we head into winter. As I type this, we have had 4 days of frost so far, so yeah it's getting cold and will get even colder for a infant moose.

These photos were taken 12 hours after the moose was born. Its just hard to believe such a cutie will grow up and look as ugly as her mother!!

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If that happened on our front lawn, LOML would force me to build a moose barn for the momma and baby to stay in for the winter. With electric blankets and running water. And toys. I have learned from LOML that all pets must have toys. I did not know that before I met her. :rofl:
 
A moose has got to be the most tame wild creature we have in Maine. Somewhat of a wild cow. You see them a lot, and they never move fast, get jittered, or do too much...unless you get between them and their young. Then that is a different story. I did that once and got charged...

I have a feeling this moose and her baby will be relocated by the game wardens. It may sound cruel, but generally it is best not to mess with Mother Nature too much. The baby moose might have a rough go this winter, but Mother Nature should run her course no matter the outcome. There is a chance however that this Moose has become too used to life around people. If that is the case then they might take her up to the Animal Farm in Gray, Maine. That is a place where they try to help wild animals get back to their health.

Moose are becoming a real nussience here in Maine especially in the winter if its tends to get really cold or snowy. My Grandmother had a moose smash its nose into her bird feeder in order to break the glass and let the seed spill out so it could eat it. When it stuck its ugly head in the window, I was not sure if:

A: My 84 year old Grandmother was going to have a heart attack
B: She was going to get out her rifle and drop it for ruining her bird feeder

Here is a picture of a Moose we had roaming around on our lawn back in June.

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looks like roasts on the hoof to me:D

Bit early Tod. You will have to wait another 2 weeks until Moose hunting Season starts.

Here its a lottery thing. They give out something like 4000 permits to hunt moose, and even then, only in certain areas. No hunting in my county yet though. It might happen soon, every year that number keeps climbing. Its fairly popular though, with 100,000 people paying the 5$ fee to try to get the permit. If you get it though, its a sure thing. The hardest part about hunting is loading the 800 pound animal in the back of your truck. For the most part you drive around on the logging roads until you see a Moose, draw off and shoot it. Its like hunting down a dairy cow in my opinion, but 500 pounds of meat is good in the freezer.
 
Ignorance on my part... but why would baby have a harder time in the winter than any other moose?

Because most baby moose born this year would have a six month head start on her. We have already had several days of frost so the grass is starting to die. That means while the other infant moose have loaded up on green grass and other foragings this summer, this moose will have to get by on tree shoots and brush over the long winter. That's not a good way to boost energy levels, stimulate growth and fight off the cold.

She is so small too that she won't reach up very high, and with snow depths higher than she is...well running in the snow...and out running equally hungry coyote will be difficult. There is no question, she will have a tough go of it this winter, but such is mother nature.
 
A moose has got to be the most tame wild creature we have in Maine. Somewhat of a wild cow. You see them a lot, and they never move fast, get jittered, or do too much...unless you get between them and their young. Then that is a different story. I did that once and got charged...

Excuse me if I disagree with that statement. There is one other time to stay the [heck] away from a moose. That's during rutting season when you would be well advised to give male moose a wide berth.

Unfortunately, I came upon one in the middle of the TCH in Newfoundland several years ago. I was driving a bright red VW van and came to a screeching stop about 50 yards from said moose (who could look me in the eye in that bus if he looked down a bit and whose rack was nearly as wide and taller than said bus). He decided he didn't like me and charged. :eek:

Now, if you know anything about VW vans you will understand why I ended up doing about 40MPH in reverse down the TCH and I didn't give a rats [behind] if there was a semi coming or not! Thankfully there wasn't (it was 5:30AM) and said moose gave up after about a quarter of a mile of chasing me.
 
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Excuse me if I disagree with that statement. There is one other time to stay the [heck] away from a moose. That's during rutting season when you would be well advised to give male moose a wide berth.

Unfortunately, I came upon one in the middle of the TCH in Newfoundland several years ago. I was driving a bright red VW van and came to a screeching stop about 50 yards from said moose (who could look me in the eye in that bus if he looked down a bit and whose rack was nearly as wide and taller than said bus). He decided he didn't like me and charged. :eek:

Now, if you know anything about VW vans you will understand why I ended up doing about 40MPH in reverse down the TCH and I didn't give a rats [behind] if there was a semi coming or not! Thankfully there wasn't (it was 5:30AM) and said moose gave up after about a quarter of a mile of chasing me.

I agree.

A few years ago I had a neighbor that darn near died from a moose car collision. He was going to his house, a house on a narrow gravel driveway. The guy was going slow and never even hit the Moose really. The moose came out of the woods, trampled over the small compact car, and with his long legs, got stuck half in/ half out of the car. As he thrashed and bolted and tried to get free of the tripping hazard he just walked into, his hooves, stomped the ever living stuffing out of my neighbor. He could not get free because he was seatbelted in.

Its hard to put into words, but basically the Moose had walked over his car with those long legs and was thrashing to get out. In doing so he crushed the mans lungs, broke bones, you name it. It pretty near killed him.

Up North Moose car collisions are very common. Again because of those long legs, the car takes them out and the Moose lands right in the windshield. That is not a place you want a 700 pound moose to land at 65 mph. Many times its pretty tragic for the moose and the car occupants. A few weeks ago I told Jay to "watch out for those Maine Moose." That was a true warning. I might have said our murder rate was up in Maine this year in another thread as well, but you are still about three times more likely to get killed by a Moose than you are a person.
 
Send some moose this way. They used to be rather thick in northern Minnesota but are dying off even before the hunters can get to them. Used to not be too uncommon to have moose wander into neighborhoods in the northern part of the Twin Cities but now they are getting scarce up north where they're supposed to be.
 
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