Watched Ken Tustin’s new doco http://www.stealthfilms.co.nz/dvds/dvd005-bundle.html which I mentioned the other day. If you are interested in great scenery, Fiordland, the origin of the moose herd there or just hunting generally you will find something to captivate you here (for a mere $10).
On every ‘expedition’ there I have found ‘moose sign’ whilst hunting about in the Seaforth Valley: tracks, droppings, browse, barking for example. I also caught a glimpse of one in the Hilda Burn years ago, heard a bull moose calling from the Waterfall Burn, in 2006 I just missed seeing one crossing the Seaforth out of the Roa Stream (I could still HEAR splashing back then); I was about a week behind one which chewed down all the vegetation around the Supper Cove Hut in 2009. In 2012 I was about as far behind one which had been living amongst the fuschia and had devastated about an acre of it above the Kenneth Burn – these are cherished experiences.
Ken’s careful explanations makes these observations a lot clearer. For example, I had been mystified by a number of saplings laid on the ground and partially barked. Ken explains the moose technique of walking trees down. I am now also a lot more focused on the differences between red/wapiti sign and moose sign – not that I had any doubt that most of what I had (correctly) identified as moose sign WAS just that. I am ever hopeful that I CAN get myself fit enough for an expedition from Supper Cove up the Henry Burn, then down Herrick Creek to Wet Jacket Arm Dusky Sound (and back, maybe via the Hilda Burn).
(Update 21/06: A week after writing this I started on my ‘no booze’ diet. Have successfully lost 2 stone, so am well on the way to 11 stone for autumn 2016 – and back to the Seaforth!) Age is (unfortunately) catching up with me. You would not BELIEVE just how hard the going IS there. It is little wonder that very few moose have ever been taken/seen.
I continue to believe that the best chance of ‘putting one up’ is by following streams (as quietly as one can!) in the warmer months – as I believe they spend a lot of time lying in the water, cooling off. The one I put up in the Hilda Burn had been doing this, and just about every one taken in the past was shot very close to a stream too. It would be SO great to get a pic of one!
For your delectation, here are a couple more snaps of the great Eddie Herrick’s 1934 (Herrick Creek) bull moose (You WILL notice that he was nearly my age)
See also:
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/the-lure-of-the-moose/
https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2020/03/04/new-evidence-of-fiordland-moose/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/from-dawn-to-dusky/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/insects-can-ruin-a-camping-trip/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/dusky-track-canoeing-the-seaforth/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/dusky-track-adventures-1/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/eddie-herrick-moose-hunting-at-dusky-sound/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/eddie-herrick-moose-hunting-at-dusky-sound/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/a-friend-i-met-on-the-dusky-track-fiordland-nz/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/dusky-south-coast-tracks/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/dreaming-of-the-dusky-track/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/the-dusky/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/moose-hunting/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/fiordland-moose/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/fiordland-moose-2/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/hunting-in-fiordland/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/off-to-fiordland/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/shadowland-fiordland-video/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/the-best-toilet-view-in-the-world/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/10-days-in-fiordland/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/fiordland-2009/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/fiordland-nz-with-bryn/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/fiordland-april-2007/
http://www.theultralighthiker.com/weather-for-fiordland/
