"Gestation for moose is approximately eight months and calving peaks in late
May. Cows usually give birth to one or two young with one calf being most common in Utah."

Scariest critter in Utah is a calf moose.

 

+1

 

around memorial day i saw the smallest cow moose i've ever seen give birth almost in the snow. the calf didn't survive but that was likely due to mom barely being a yearling. or it could have been her poor choice of location.

 

My dad was filming a cow last night that appeared to be giving birth. He hung around a bit but didn't want to make her nervous, and figured if it's anything like cattle or horses it's not always a fast process.


So, she must have just been in some type of mood.


I agree on them being scary!!

 

Agree with the scary comment. Last year during the bowhunt I thought some elk were coming in from behind my position, I was hiding in a bush, turned my head and saw a cow and calf moose. Calf went by first, down to water, so then I was between the cow and the calf trying not to breath or move or **** my pants. Luckily mom joined in the wallow pretty quick. They both passed my hiding spot so close I could have reached out and spanked them as they went by. Once they were wallowing in the water 20 yds away, I got out of there ASAP.

 

I had to sweet talk a cow one year when I was hunting up Tie Fork in Spanish Fork Canyon.

I was a hundred yards away from her calf and she still wanted a piece of me.

 

I used to teach and work for the Forest Service in the Summers. I was driving around a campground and saw a bunch of teenage boys from my school gathering around a bush. I stopped to say hi and see what was going on. They were all standing there 2-3 feet away from a very young baby moose curled up on the ground. I have no idea how they found the thing or how they survived without injury. I quickly demonstrated how to make a quick exit.

I've been charged multiple times by males and females, especially while calling for elk--I guess the young bulls get confused or desperate. :smile

I had a very close call with a cow and calf when I was 8 in Yellowstone. I was wandering around alone with my 7 year old sister (back when parents allowed that kind of cool independence). We were looking for frogs in a stream. Found a cow and calf instead. I thought she was going to stomp is into the water. We've relived that experience for the last 38 years and it just grows better and better. Moose are definitely one of my favorite animals--deer with attitudes!

 

We should call this thread "moose encounters" now hahah. Love hearing the stories of everyones moose encounters and how similiar they are. 2 years ago on my ML deer hunt i feel like i spent my entire hunt avoiding moose. for how big of critters they are i somehow found myself between a calf and a mama or 2 seperate occasions, one of them ended with momma running up and stomping at me a few feet away. They surpassed mountain lions on my list of the animal im more worried about when hunting. Majestic beasts that i would hate to be on the recieving end of a beat down.

 

my experience with moose has been just the opposite. I have run into multiple moose over the years, calfs, cows, cows with calfs... never have any of them been aggressive, quite the opposite. Maybe it is my after shave, but all of them have been passive. I was at girls camp one year at Brighton and 3 young calfs walked right thru the camp 20 yards from us during the evening fireside. I have always had a healthy respect for them, but so far in many many sighting, the moose didn't seem to mind my presence. Now, just the opposite has been true of the Yukon Moose. They are very aggressive and I even had a cousin-in-law stomped by one.

 

I've had a bull moose escort me right out of the forest away from his cows and he wasn't happy. Haven't had an issue with cows calves

 

One of the most nerve-wracking moments of my life was in September 2018 right after I pulled the trigger on my little bull moose in AK. I knew there were at least 1 sub-legal bull, 1 cow, and 1 calf with my little spike/fork before I stalked in on them from 1/2 a mile away. I had the sub-legal bull, cow and calf all visible in the dwarf willows with me at 10-20 yards when I dropped my bull 20 feet from me.

What I did NOT know before bulling the trigger was that in addition to the 3 living moose I could already see there was another cow laying down 5' to my right, another sub-legal bull 10' to my right, and another cow with 2 calves just behind him. After I pulled the trigger, I suddenly had grass/brush erupt and had 7 moose under 30' just staring at me. It took me waving the gun and yelling for what is possibly the longest 5 seconds of history before they all stormed out of the area.

 

My favorite moose encounter video... this would make you need a change of underwear

-DallanC