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[Duck on Wheels]

you know what i can't believe is that i forgot to tell you i lost my "moose virginity"!

we were driving back from dinner the last night i was in anchorage and i actually saw a real moose on the side of the road. in the middle of anchorage! it was an amazing sight.

Now that the snow is deep, we're likely to wind up walking alongside moose on the classic Sunday hike route (up to a cabin in the woods for hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls). They use the wide, trampled trail to get from woodsy patch to woodsy patch for grazing, rather than struggle through belly-deep snow. They seem totally unfazed by hords of people hiking up the trail and kids on sleds racing down. Not quite 2 years ago I had a PhD student visiting from Brazil. I took her on a hike up there after work one day (trailhead is right behind the campus) and said we might see a moose, although the snow was gone by then. We got up to the cabin -- no moose. Back down past the parking lot -- still no moose. Then right in somebody's front yard on the way back to the main road, there was a moose grazing calmly.

[Duck on Wheels]

You *know* how much I love moose.

As in a menu item? Our neighbor hunts moose. It's deLICious!!!

[Duck on Wheels]

Umm yes, running into a Moose would ruin your day.However if you just hit the moose a bit, it would mozy on and tell it's moose friends "oh, that bruise..just a car.." something like that.

Hitting a moose does serious damage to car and moose. Bad all around. And this thing about the moose using trampled routes when the snow gets deep creates big problems for the railway. Dave Barry had a hilarious column back in the Lillehammer olympics days about how those "crazy Norwegians" -- you know, the ones crazy enough to do ski jumps carrying a torch with the Olympic flame, and when the one guy falls and breaks his collar bone at dress rehearsal they've actually got another guy crazy enough to step in and sub. Anyway, those crazy Norwegians were using wolf urine to keep the moose away from the railroad tracks. He wondered how they went about collecting wolf urine ... until someone filled him in on the secret (psssst. don't tell anyone, but it's synthetic).

[Bikingmomof3]

As in a menu item? Our neighbor hunts moose. It's deLICious!!!

Oh not to eat (well I never tried it), I think moose are lovely creatures.

[chickwhorips]

As in a menu item? Our neighbor hunts moose. It's deLICious!!!

you know i actually have never had moose. though i hear you get a TON of meat off of one and its a lot of work!

[Duck on Wheels]

I think quite literally a ton of work. They don't exactly fold up and fit in your pocket. Our neighbor and his brothers stay close to the family's old homestead when they hunt, so they don't have far to haul. They shot one from the kitchen window once. This may all seem callous, but since Norwegians pretty much exterminated their wolves and bears a century or so ago, they have to hunt some quota worth of moose and deer or the poor things starve and sicken, even after eating the forests to nubbins. But you can't just grab a gun and go out and shoot. You have to pass tests for accuracy every year as well as written tests on good hunting practices. And you have to have a tracker dog along so you can quickly catch up with any animal you injure but don't kill on the spot. Not that "good ol' boys" don't ever drink-and-hunt, but they do risk losing their licenses for it.

[chickwhorips]

they need to have stricter hunting regulations like that here. i think its a great idea!

[Kitsune06]

DoW- in WI we had quotas like that, too, for the same reason (and with all the corn and alfalfa fields, the things would breed like rats....) Deer seem so much easier. Nothing like pulling one over your shoulders to carry to camp if you've forgotten your drag bag. Fun, fun. I was the type to caaaaarrrefully check out all the innards, too (where else do you get an opportunity like that??!) oh and venison. mmmmm venison. God I MISS venison. *sigh*

and hunting out here is *nothing* like hunting in WI. I don't know *what* kind of deer they have out here but they're *not* the white tails I know (shorter tails, yes white, yes the same basic antler branching to the beams, but the build and coloration is different...) and there are just *nowhere near* as many out here. *huff* *sigh*
And here I move just when I was getting good... I knew how to still-hunt, how to lay scent trails, make mock scrapes, call, rattle, breathe, shoot... all that knowledge; wasted. *sigh*

[mimitabby]

DoW- in WI we had quotas like that, too, for the same reason (and with all the corn and alfalfa fields, the things would breed like rats....) Deer seem so much easier. Nothing like pulling one over your shoulders to carry to camp if you've forgotten your drag bag. Fun, fun. I was the type to caaaaarrrefully check out all the innards, too (where else do you get an opportunity like that??!) oh and venison. mmmmm venison. God I MISS venison. *sigh*

and hunting out here is *nothing* like hunting in WI. I don't know *what* kind of deer they have out here but they're *not* the white tails I know (shorter tails, yes white, yes the same basic antler branching to the beams, but the build and coloration is different...) and there are just *nowhere near* as many out here. *huff* *sigh*
And here I move just when I was getting good... I knew how to still-hunt, how to lay scent trails, make mock scrapes, call, rattle, breathe, shoot... all that knowledge; wasted. *sigh*

they have Mule Deer out here.

[crazycanuck]

I've heard kangaroo meat tastes quite nice. I've not had it yet though.

It's also a staple in pet food..blecuchhh..

Running into a kangaroo is not a good thing for you nor your car. Not something you want to try at home. Now running into a roo whilst mtn biking would be rather exciting. I've heard stories but never had that experience.

Passing kangaroos & emus whilst biking is just fine with me. THey're so freakin quick..I wish i was like that!


c

[chickwhorips]

oh and venison. mmmmm venison. God I MISS venison. *sigh*

i second that!

[Pax]

Well, I just got back from my interview and it was AWESOME!!!! The interviewer wants me for the lead position and was aware that I have another job possibility in the works so spent some time trying to sell me the job...it's so nice to be sought after!

If I accept it they'll fly me to San Francisco for the initial training, then I would be working digitizing parts of the local universities archives.

I might just have to give the position some serious consideration. It's a weird feeling to be walking away from my career and into something so new!

[chickwhorips]

woo hoo!!!! so happy for you queen!

[IFjane]

Congratulations Queen!!! you go!

[crazycanuck]

Queen-Can I have your job? That's what I want to do..

c