Bringing Wisconsin’s Moose Into the Spotlight

If Wisconsin had a “most likely to be underestimated” award, moose would win it while standing quietly in a marsh, pretending not to exist. A Wisconsin bull moose in velvet, May 2019. Moose ( Alces alces ) are the largest members of the deer family anywhere in the world. Adults stand roughly 5 to 7 feet tall at the shoulder and stretch 8 to 10 feet from nose to tail. Bulls can weigh anywhere from 900 to 1,400 pounds, while cows generally range from 700 to 1,100 pounds. That’s

Moose are enormous animals with legs like fence posts and antlers that look wildly impractical for stealth. And yet. They are astonishingly good at not being noticed. Full-sized. Half visible. Moose spend most of their time in places humans avoid: wetlands, bog edges, regenerating forests, and thick cover where visibility is measured in feet, not yards. They move slowly, deliberately, and often at dawn, dusk, or night. When they stop moving, they become forest furniture. Two

Once upon a time, moose didn’t need to hide in Wisconsin. Before European settlement, moose occupied much of the northern half of the state, living in conifer and mixed hardwood forests primarily north of about 44 degrees latitude. For reference, 44° N is not very far north — picture a line running roughly from Green Bay to Marshfield to Eau Claire. Moose were a familiar, if elusive, part of the landscape. By the mid to late 1800s, that changed. Overhunting played a major rol

Moose might be the biggest animals in the forest… but you’d never know it from the way they hide. Wisconsin’s moose have mastered the art of staying off-camera, off-trail, and off-the-record — which is exactly why I’m obsessed with finding them. Most people in Wisconsin have never  seen a moose. But they’re out there — slipping between wetlands, forests, and all the quiet places humans don’t usually go. In upcoming posts, I’ll share what we know (and what we think  we know) a