William: I see Moose in my front yard almost weekly. I've killed one a year since I got to Alaska in 1971. I've shot two of them from my second floor bedroom window with a Bow. I've shot as many as five in one year with four proxy's. Last week I saw 18, 15 cows, and 3 bulls. They were in the flood control project where I am trapping Beaver. The project is about two miles from my house. I also fly as a volunteer with Fish and Game, to do Moose count surveys.
We see where two or three a week that are hit by vehicles, and that usually totals the car or truck. I hit one about five years ago. It was midnight and I was going home from work. A cow ran out into the road, I dodged the big cow and hit the calf. The calf had fallen on the pavement, and was lying down when I ran over it. The cow ran up when I stopped and hit the tailgate with her front foot and dented the tailgate. I drove on up the road about a quarter mile, parked and called the Troopers. When the Trooper got there he blocked the road and made people take an alternate route till the cow left.
The temp that night was 35 below and the calf froze down to the pavement before we could run the cow off. To get it off the roadway I put a tow rope around it and hooked up to my truck and pulled it to the shoulder. The skin that was in contact with the pavement stayed on the pavement.
There is a TV show coming up where they follow an Alaskan State Trooper. The Trooper got a call about a Moose hit by a car on the parks highway. The camera Crew was shocked by the size of the animal and the damage done to the vehicle. A local Charity was called to collect the meat to feed the homeless and needy. The Camera Crew was in shock again, when traffic started flowing and no one stopped or bothered to look at what was going on right there on the shoulder of the road. We see this all the time so it is not a big deal with us. We are just thankful it was not us that hit the Moose.
My wife hit a Lynx two weeks ago on her way home from work. I see two or three Coyotes a month running across the road. We see a big Red Fox in the front yard weekly.
Those trees look like Black Spruce and Birch just like we have here in the Interior of Alaska. Black Spruce is a scrub type tree, they do not grow big. Black Spruce is considered Old Groth. They also have an oil in the needles and will burn like mad in a pouring rain. So one lightening strike during a rain storm, can start a big forest fire real fast. Then the black Spruce forest becomes a willow area, which makes prime Moose habitat.
