Yooper Scouting Day

Yesterday I decided to go out and do some scouting for deer. I like to go out in the spring for a number of reasons. the weather is cool and there are not many bugs out. The leaves are not developed so the visibility is about like it is in the fall for hunting season and evidence still exists from last falls animal movements as the trails are not covered in new growth vegetation. I really like the spring scouting trips to explore new potential areas for the up and coming fall hunting season. The plan for the day was to walk in about two miles in an area I had still hunted once about ten ears ago. I wanted to see what has changed over the years. So I loaded up my MR Pintler pack with plenty of fluids, survival items, and camera gear. It was a really nice day, perfect for hiking as it was around 50 degrees F. About an hour and a half into the hike I am moving along a valley between two ridges. As I look up toward the skyline I see there is an opening in the visible tree canopy. Here in the UP of Michigan openings in vegetation are pretty scarce so I decided to go check it out. When I ascended up to the top of the ridge I discovered a large clear cut.


My first thoughts were wow this is about as good of moose habitat as we get here in the UP. Proper age class of young Maple and other mixed trees species with a bit of topography variation for visibility. As I work my way around the edge of the cutting I stumble on a pretty heavy trail used by White Tailed Deer that is coming from the higher elevations. This trail has much more use than a typical trail in the area. I can presume that this is a migration trail used by a good number of deer when the snow hits the ground in the late rifle season. Definitely a good find for future consideration this fall. As I pull out my GPS and start saving the location I look up out into the cutting and notice a large dark object. I start thinking What?, Could it be?,



Now here in the UP our moose population is only about 400 animals so finding a moose is like finding a needle in a hay stack. I was kind of lucky that I decided to throw the camera gear in the pack for the day. So I shot some pictures. I decided not to push the issue and try to get real close to her as this is calving season and did not want to put any stress into her. She looks very old with her face and head being very grey in color. Here belly was hanging very low so she probably was carrying. I just decided to back out of the area and leave her be. I considered finding the migration trail and her sighting a good day in the woods.

Nice!!!!

Living in Southern MI I would love to see a Michigan Moose. Kinda jealous.

Sweet. I always wondered if it's worth it to go pre scout way before season.

My buddy lives and works up there in Ontanogan and he sent me a picture the other day of what appeared to be a real nice bull. He told me he sees about 1 moose a year. I am coming up in the end of June for a week of fishing basing out of Bewabic with him. Great pic and sounds like a nice day in the woods.

Here is another picture with a bit different angle. A better view of her face.

Very cool. I do some camping around the Newberry area and supposedly there are a few around there. I've heard some hang out in the Tahquamenon Falls State Park. We have had a few siting in Northern Wisconsin the last few years as well. Would be neat to see one in the Upper Great Lakes one day

I have seen four live moose( 1 bull, 2 cows, and a calf) and one dead one here in the UP in the last twenty years. The dead one has a pretty good story that I may add to this thread sometime. The dead one I was contacted by a biologist from the MDNR to help find and recover a collared cow that was signaling a mortality code from her collar. The biologist knew I had trapped coyotes and beaver in the area so I might be of some assistance with helping them navigate and recover the animal in some nasty country. I would encourage anybody to contact the biologist in their areas and see if it is possible to do a ride along and help out as a guest when they are working on some of their wildlife projects. Some interesting stuff.

The Seney to Newberry area has a decent number of animals. The highest concentration is in the Michigame to Baraga area. I know when I travel thru Northern Wisconsin eye keep my eyes open East of Eagle River. I think if a guy drove in on some of the forest service roads in that area you could probably run into an animal or two given some time.

I couldn't even imagine in my wildest dreams finding a shed from some of these bulls. That would be a hell of a trophy.

Very nice. It was all rainy in the eastern end yesterday. I keep hoping to see a moose on our farm one day. Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

The moose in the UP seem to be moving around quite a bit in the last two weeks. The picture of this bull was taken yesterday along US-41 North of Michigamme by one of my co-workers.



Another friend of mine spotted a cow last week North of Marquette.