Shooting Moose

[wolfnowl]

For anyone traveling to the island... I watched a show tonight on Nfld's moose population.  I knew that moose were a problem on the island, but I never knew to what extent.  In 1904 four moose were released on Newfoundland; current birth rates are about 40,000 calves/ year.  Infant mortality is about 20% and there's a three-month hunting season (in addition to road kills and other mortality), but some areas in Gros Morne National Park apparently have up to 19 moose/ sq km.  By comparison, when I was working in Ontario's Algonquin Park, the population of up to 5 moose/ sq km was considered artificially high.

So, keeping in mind that bulls can range up to almost a ton and are really short on brains in September, if you're looking to make photographs of moose about all you'd have to do is point your camera in any direction and push the shutter...

Mike.

[KenS]

So, keeping in mind that bulls can range up to almost a ton and are really short on brains in September, if you're looking to make photographs of moose about all you'd have to do is point your camera in any direction and push the shutter...

Mike.
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A word of caution... a few years ago my son and I were hiking a trail in Alaska and came across a moose family.  Knowing better than to get too close I set up my tripod some distance away and began shooting.

After a couple of shots two stray dogs that were following us on the trail came charging out of no where and headed straight for the moose family... Next thing I saw in the camera viewfinder was the bull moose charging towards me (the dogs were long gone).  I picked up and ran like hell.  Fortunately the bull lost interest after a few dozen yards or I would not be typing this response !  My son thought it was pretty funny but it could have turned out a lot differently.

Ken