This guy raised an abandoned moose calf with his Horses, and believe it or not, he has trained it for lumber removal and other hauling tasks. Given the 2,000 pounds of robust muscle, and the splayed, grippy hooves, he claims it is the best work animal he has. He says the secret to keeping the moose around is a sweet salt lick, although, during the rut he disappears for a couple of weeks, but always comes home
An old timer down the road showed me a picture of a man riding a moose; very similar situation; raised it and trained it like a horse, but it was a female. To work an intact male moose like that takes, well, courage.
ReplyDeleteLuvlay.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't kill that thing but certainly cut a few steaks off its back now and again.
ReplyDelete-Snakepit
Unfortunately this is a fabricated story that has been around a long time as it has a popular theme https://equineink.com/2009/03/02/the-alaskan-clydesdale-fact-or-fiction/
ReplyDeleteYou can't trust your own eyes anymore. Looking closely at his hands it looks like he's holding a hoof or cinching the strap. But all 4 moose legs are on the ground and there is no strap. Future generations will be completely dumbfounded by sophisticated fakery.
DeleteIt is against game laws everywhere to raise and keep wild animals, particularly an endangered big game animal. Even assuming this was not a photoshop hoax, the publicity of using one for a beast of burden and allowing a public photo and story to circulate would be like begging the Fish and Wildlife Service to raid your farm.
ReplyDeleteits a pretty bad photoshop job too.
ReplyDeleteIf in fact the Bull disappears during rut every year, how is it that he’s so lucky to avoid hunters who are out looking for legal bulls to shoot?
ReplyDeleteA few old timers trained moose to harness in Alaska, a century ago. It's currently illegal here, but folks know it's easy to tame a moose calf.
ReplyDeleteSeen one in news story from early 1960s about a saddle-trained bull moose. Killed the guy a couple years later.
DeleteMoose aren't anywhere close to 'endangered big game animal' though, esp in Alaska. They're so irascible and unpredictable, not to mention huge, I'd be a little reluctant to try interacting with one on a regular basis for sure. It's an entertaining story though.
ReplyDeleteAnimals do imprint on their surrounding animals, too. My cats and dogs were raised together from ~5 weeks; the cats follow us around like dogs and like to go on walks, and the dogs occasionally lick their paws and wash their faces, and sit up on the back of the couch next to the cats. Weird! They're 55 lb animals, perched on the couch.
There's another picture of a cowboy in 1910 riding a Bull Elk up in Canada, Calgary I think. It was posted on Reddit 5 yrs ago. But seriously, how do you saddle break an Elk?
ReplyDeleteThis pic is bullshit, but in my yute, hauling logs from North Maine to Quebec, the route took me through Greenville Maine.
ReplyDeleteA little diner/gin mill called the Log Cabin had a few pics of bull moose being ridden out in deep water on Moosehead Lake,. for real.
God forbid if that humongous bull ever touched bottom enough to hook up.
I think the proprietor mentioned that there may have been "some" alcohol involved
Buddy Heaton was a rodeo clown, who trained and rode a buffalo named Clyde. Supposedly rode the buffalo in JFK's inaugural parade.
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