Protective Moose & High Water Warnings Issued

After a week of rain and melting snow fields, Interior rivers are at the tops of their banks. A friend out on the Chena over the weekend in his canoe, found himself, his passenger, and his gear floating in the chilled water after being upended by a torpedo (floating tree). Sadly, I do not have a picture of that.

The moose calves are “dropping all over town right now”, according to Alaska Fish & Game. Which means that mother moose is anxious, ornery & extremely protective. Everyone talks about the dangerous grizzly, but moose stompings out number bear maulings by a wide margin.
“Those cows are so defensive of their little babies. They will literally stand there on the edge of the woods watching you, and if you take one step into their personal bubble, they’ll come out hooves flying.” — Jesse Coltrane, Biologist, AKF&G

And that is a sight to behold.
I’ve been chased by a mother moose once, and witnessed a pissed off cow attack another cow moose when a young calf followed the wrong mother for a few yards. The offended cow reared up on her hind legs and let her front hooves fly out at the unsuspecting cow. Within seconds both cows had their hooves flailing wildly. It was quite the sight. Oddly enough, approaching via stealth mode a half mile away, was a grizzly with its nose held high in the air. It was dead on the track that the cow & calf moose had taken just thirty minutes before.

All in a day in The Backyard.