Eyes on the Prize

Late evening, sun's dipping into the trees and this ol' boy is stalking out from the shadows, focused on a cow moose he's been eyeing all day long.

Bull moose this time of year are a mess. Often, if the wind is right, you can smell them before you see them. Their cologne is a foul, feral, hormone-tinted mix of urine and swamp muck. They wallow in the stuff and the scent draws cows for miles.

If you look closely, you can see some of the light-gray mud staining this bull’s antlers. I watched him wallow earlier in the evening, preparing for the night’s shenanigans.

Another bull would challenge him for that cow. But I don’t know the winner, because they didn’t start slamming their heads together until it was too dark to see. The things these guys do for love. ...

Image taken with Canon R6 with 500mm lens at f/4, shutter speed 1600, ISO 2000.