In my 60 some years and over 25 for my wife Monica, we have had Northwoods animal “WOW” moments. Those times were seeing our first Bear, Wolves, Coyotes, the elusive Bobcat and even a Mountain lion, but never a Moose until six years ago. That happened while fishing on the Cisco Chain when Monica spotted something swimming in the water. We headed in that direction, but stayed a safe distance not to bother this animal and were shocked to see a Moose swimming from an island to the nearest shore with her calf close behind.

The next week we ran into a gentleman in Mercer that I have known since my family started vacationing in the Northwoods in the early 1960s and mentioned that we saw a Moose and calf. This man was born and raised in the Northwoods, was a fishing guide for over 65 years and I learned years ago, if you listen to these old timers, you will ALWAYS learn something. That day he told us people in the northwestern part of the state have been seeing Moose crossing back and forth into Wisconsin from Minnesota for years and even though its rare, you will see a Moose every once in a while, in Land O Lakes, Boulder Junction and Presque Isle areas because the Michigan DNR released close to 60 moose into the upper peninsula in the late 1980’s. He also said, you will usually only see single Moose around September and into October, because that’s the time when a Bull Moose will travel many miles to find that special lady. Well, that answered my question, and I learned a little about the moose that day. We still see most of the animals I mentioned above (WHICH IS STILL AWESOME) but seeing moose now and then is still one of those WOW moments.

So why where there so many Moose sightings in Mercer, Manitowish Waters, Lac du Flambeau and even outside of Minocqua last September?  Sadly, my old friend John is no longer with us, but I did talk to a few older locals I have gotten to know over the years and was surprised to learn that in the early 1990s, like Michigan, Wisconsin DNR were also considering reintroducing Moose and even Caribou in the northern part of the state, but because Moose and Caribou are more susceptible to a parasite (BRAINWORM) commonly found in Deer, but usually doesn’t affect Deer, the DNR choose Elk (A PAST TOPIC). I was also told, even though you may never see one, Moose have been calling the Northwoods home for over 20 years.

This is where opinions differ on the number of Moose in the Northwoods. The older locals I talked to believe there are close to 50 Moose living in the north central and northeastern part of the state and even though the DNR has confirmed Moose calves are being born in northern Wisconsin since the early 2000’s, their estimation is between 20 to 40 Moose. Again, even though it’s higher, I’ll go with the old timers on the true amount. So, I had to asked them, with that many Moose, why don’t we see more during the year? They said, Moose stay around swamp and marsh areas along with small undeveloped lakes and those areas are very hard if not close to impossible to reached even on foot. But they also mentioned as did my old friend, males (BULL MOOSE) will move all over the Northwoods in the fall, looking for a female (COW) to breed with and don’t care where they go or who sees them while trying to find that lucky lady. Moral of this topic is, talk to local old timers, listen and you can learn so much.

Even though the last sighting of a Bull moose was reported (PHOTOGRAFED) last week just south of Land O lakes which is highly unusual, all the moose we have seen has been in September. So, the moral of this topic? ALWAYS believe what old timers tell you.