Shirasi Moose

I was excited over seeing a Beaver. I tried to get a picture of it but it was fast. The Beaver had a pretty impressive dam however. RMNP is really beautiful.

I only saw part of an Elk Herd when we visited the RMNP. Although that was an amazing thing in itself! We went up through to Bear Lake and hiked the the trails there. It was absolutely awesome!

It is a great success story. I believe that we had a near extinction of the wolf in Colorado as well. I would love to spot a wolf. I found her in Rocky Mountain National Park. There were a lot of amazing animals in the area.

I spent weeks tracking "tells" from locals all over CO, trying to find one of the awesome animals, with not a hair to be found. LOL It would have made my year! :-)

You are very welcome for the information. It's one of my favorite success stories in environmental conservation and returning species to their local, and ancestral lands. We have a very similar story here in NY in the Adirondack mountain range with the Eastern Moose, as well as the Wolf, (many people were against the reintroduction of the wolf to it's native habitat of the Adirondack range, however it's a great success story).

Thanks Brandon. I appreciate the information. I felt really lucky to spot her, it has made my week.

Krista, this is an amazing spotting! The subspecies that inhabits Colorado and the Rocky Mountain range is actually the A. a. shirasi. It's the smallest of the moose subspecies and were actually quite rare to find. The Federal and State Govt, has been strictly regulating any hunting of the shirasi moose in Colorado and the other states it inhabits, in order to bring the population back from the brink.

It was assumed that the Shirasi subspecies had been hunted to Statewide Extinction in CO by 1900. In 1978 and 1979, State wildlife officials transferred in 12 animals each year from herds from other areas (Uintah Mountains and the Grand Tetons). Since then the herds have expanded and have reached an estimated number of 700 animals by 1994, and the last estimated count of animals shows nearly 1200 throughout the State.

It's a slow success story in the making!

What an awesome experience to see one of these animals, if you calculate the Range, in acres and divide that by the number of moose, you can see that it is indeed rare to spot one. :-) Excellent work on such a treasured experience!

Thanks Christy and Adam. I couldn't believe I saw one either, and she wasn't shy. She knew I was there and just went about her business.

Wow..congrats on the moose! I guess I need to head up to Estes..I've only seen one at Yellowstone. Crazy you were able to get that close without it running off.

Wonderful series, Krista! I have never seen one in the wild...I can wish it! ;-)

Thanks Emily. Pretty close, 25-30 feet away.

Wow, what a beautiful young female! She has a sweet face! Great pictures, how close did you get!?!

I climbed a tree to get the picture but it wasn't difficult. I have heard that moose can be aggressive so I tried to be sneaky so I wouldn't disturb her.

Wow! I love that animals!!! Is it difficult to take the picture?

I think a young female. She wasn't very big, well at least not as big as an adult moose.

Wow! it must have been nice to encounter a moose!..female or youngster?