There are four types of moose, two from Canada and two from the US - the eastern Canadian, the northwest Canadian, the Alaska Yukon and the Wyoming moose. All are found in the areas their names imply and prefer coniferous or hardwood forests that surround shrub- and brush-laden lowlands that are near lakes, rivers or swamps. There are many distinguishable features of the moose, North America's largest antlered animal. The huge, multi-pointed antlers look like cupped, upturned hands and, similar to deer, velvet is grown and shed on them at different times of the year. These large, dark brown or black animals have humped shoulders that are very prominent, especially when viewed from the side. They also have a long, oblong head with hair hanging off the throat (called their dewlap or bell).
Male moose are called bulls and can grow up to seven feet tall at the shoulders and can be ten feet in length. Female moose are called cows, grow to be one quarter of the size and do not grow antlers. These animals can weigh anywhere from 1,000 to 1,800 pounds when fully grown. (The females again growing to a quarter of the size.)
Before sunrise is the first eating time for these animals and they eat willows, paper birch, quaking aspen and balsam fir for a few hours before settling down to chew their cud. (They repeat this process before they go to bed in the evening.) During the summer months when they are in the water a lot, aquatic vegetation is eaten, too.
Moose have excellent senses of smell and hearing, but their eyesight is merely average, so they chiefly rely on scents to determine if predators are near. Despite these failsafes, though, these animals are unique in that they don't have many predators to fear, humans and wolves being the only ones.
Unless they are mating, the sexes live separately, the cows opting to stay with their calves. Breeding season, which starts in September or October, has the males digging into the ground with their hooves, urinating on the dug out area and then rolling around in it, creating a wallow.
And as with other animals, the males will challenge or fight other bulls to breed each cow. They do this by rubbing trees, swaying their head and antlers back and forth and walking around with stiff legs. (The bulls also display dominance by thrashing around and breaking off brush and little trees with their antlers.) Whoever wins gains the right to breed with the cow for a couple of days and then move on to the next cow as the cycle starts anew.
There are a few different hunting strategies that can easily be implemented with moose. In areas of water the moose frequent, the best way to hunt them is to float in a canoe or boat and hope to surprise them as they are eating or drinking on the banks.
If there is a noticeable trail, putting up a stand along or near it is a good idea - you never know when the animal will come that way again. Since they do feed in the morning, glassing with binoculars and then stalking them is the best way to catch moose off guard. Or if you don't want to tail them, let the moose come to you by using a cow-in-heat call or an antler rattle - these should draw a male in no time.
