Moose
The story
Moose live in the forests of northeastern Minnesota, where they browse the leaves and twigs of birch, aspen and willow and wade for water plants in summer. Aerial surveys counted about 8,840 moose there in 2006 and about 2,700 in 2013. Since then the count has held steady at the lower level.
The North Shore forest, northeastern Minnesota
The same moment, today
A heavy piece of dark furniture can sit in the corner of a room for years. It's solid and huge, but after a while people simply stop seeing it. They walk right past eight hundred pounds of dark wood every morning because it stays still and doesn't make any noise. It blends right into the shadows by the coat rack. It's always surprising when a visitor points it out, because nobody inside the house noticed how big it really was.
A moose works the same way in the North Shore woods. A bull can stand taller than a horse, but it easily slips behind a small stand of birch trees. Moose spend their days quietly browsing on twigs and leaves from aspen, birch, and willow. In the summer they wade into shallow water to eat river plants and stay cool. Their dark coats match the spruce shadows, so they can stand twenty feet away and look like another patch of brush. It takes patient eyes to spot an animal that big when it doesn't want to be seen.
The lesson
If you're looking for a moose, drive slow past willow bogs at sunrise and watch for dark shapes that don't move. Check the shallow water, where they like to feed when the morning air is still cool.
Where this comes from
The state hunt, 2013
In 2013, Minnesota shut down the state moose hunt indefinitely. Annual counts from helicopters showed that the northeastern herd had dropped fast, falling from about 8,840 animals in 2006 to roughly 2,700 in 2013. Biologists with the Minnesota DNR found that winter ticks, warmer seasons, and wolves were all hitting the animals hard. The state designated the moose as a species of special concern that same year. Ending the hunt gave the herd room to breathe, and the population has held steady ever since.
A small reminder, in the spruce woods or the quiet corner of a room, that something giant can stand right in front of you without making a sound.
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