Tuesday, August 25, 2020

What does a Moose say?

 

Visiting Alaska was on my bucket list. My children gave me a trip in March of 2020 and my daughter accompanied me.  We went on several snowshoe adventures together and were able to see the Alaskan Moose in the wild.  Our last outing was especially memorable. We saw fresh moose droppings (they look like a pecan in a shell) just a few yards into the hike.  We were eager to see the moose—from a safe distance.    


We continued through the snow, which was chest and armpit deep in many places, spotting long troughs going across the trail. These were moose tracks!  The moose that had made them was SO tall that its belly had not disturbed the snow between the long channels where its legs had plowed through. That meant that the moose’s belly was over 4 ½ feet high!  That is huge!  We were familiar with our moose in Colorado, and knew the Alaskan Moose was known to be enormous.

Nearly a quarter of a mile later—there she was!  A gorgeous female moose grazing on the trees. We stopped, stayed on the trail, spoke softly to her, and took some photos.  Not wanting to disturb her, we went on our way and talked about how fabulous it was to meet her in the wild.

 


On our return hike back to the car we saw her tracks criss-crossing through the snowy forest.  Just as we were talking about seeing her, we heard a noise—Mook!  It was her. She was saying goodbye in moose language.  What a gift! Now we know what a moose really says.  Mooooooook!  



Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Why is this Pen so Special to me?

 


My family has a tradition of hunting every spring—for shed. Shed is the antlers that drop from the local mule deer bucks every spring. They are usually found first by small rodents who gnaw on them for the calcium and minerals and to sharpen their teeth. 

One spring day I was walking my son’s beagle mix in my neighborhood. I spotted movement to my right up a small hill in the forest. There he was. A one-antlered buck was concentrating on something in front of him and did not notice we were watching him. Abruptly he snorted, sprinted forward, and tossed his head into the air under a low hanging pine tree branch. Smack! And Wow!  He sprinted away and we walked over to see what he had been doing to make such noise.  What we found was an antler complete with small dots of blood where it had been attached to his skull.  As the blood supply to their antlers diminishes, the skin underneath begins to itch. This triggers the deer to rub their antlers on trees to rid themselves of the old set. This deer had taken a more drastic action and I got to witness it!  I always knew that they shed their antlers every year and we were always excited to find one or two in the wild. This time, however, I witnessed it falling. What a gift.

Fast forward several months. My father-in-law had purchased a pen-making kit and was enjoying his new hobby. He first mastered wooden pens and then wanted to branch out to make antler pens.  Before the holidays he asked us to buy or find some antlers for him to use. Well, I had an antler for him!  I gave him my antler and told him the story of witnessing it being shed.  When I opened my Christmas gift from him there it was!  He made me a pen from my very special antler.






 

Today it is doubly special to me. The pen is a reminder of that amazing day when it was gifted to me by the mule deer AND it is a reminder of the love gifted to me by my father-in-law who has passed.