29.9.09

Poor moose?

Last Thursday at 7.15 am
Autumn Sun: 15 mins ago

Have you noticed how I have mentioned the weather lately? Well that's all about to change. The sun may still be shining but there was frost on the ground this morning so winter is definitely creeping up on us. Groan. I know, I know, I should embrace it. It's not the snow per se that upsets me you know; it's the fact that it hangs around, cluttering up the place, for so long. But Autumn ain't quite over even if the leaves are falling from the trees like rain so there's still some joy to be had in the weather. For some of us at least. Not for all. Apparently hunting season has started. I heard shots ring out on Thursday and Saturday. I'm worried about my mooses. Haven't seen them since Thursday morning. At least, if the worst has happened, they won't have to worry about buying new snow boots. See, there's always a silver lining?

8 comments:

Jo said...

Hows that for positive thinking! Do they hunt that close to the houses? I know the family are out there shooting everything that moves but they go up to the hytte to hunt.

Unknown said...

Absolutely right Joanne - it's autumn holiday in Norwegian schools this week and lots of people are gone to their hyttes, some to hunt. It's hard to know how far away the shots were but they sounded very near. We may be on the edge of a shooting zone or something.I don't want to ask anyone. I also don't know how far the moose roam as I only see them about once a month at most so they may actually 'live' miles away. Either way, I'd like to see them again, alive. The crop in the field is still too high to see the deer clearly but saw a head bobbing about this morning. I never get tired of seeing them.

Group 8 said...

So cold already? Eek!

Bjørn said...

Hunters in Norway are only allowed to shoot animals when both hunter and prey are at least 150 metres from "build-up areas", so they're not gonna be shooting them on your doorstep, at least.

Unknown said...

Thanks for that Bjorn but the moose tend to hang out around 150m from our house which would be on the edge of a built-up area. That's a LOT closer than I would have thought!

Bjørn said...

Yep, 150m is pretty close... I'd say too close for comfort. But there's also the thing about "utmark" and "innmark" too. Innmark agricultural areas and such, utmark being sortof "the wild". Hunters need the permission of the land owner to hunt on "innmark". So you could ask the owner of those fields you took those beautiful elk photos on, wheter he allows hunting on his land. Most do, however.

Unknown said...

Bjorn, it seems the answer to the farmer question is YES. We went for a family walk this morning and saw a hunter with a rifle walk into the woods you see in my photo. About 15 mins later we heard one shot ring out. Yikes - makes me a bit nervous going for walk at the moment lest one of us gets mistaken for a moose - albeit one in bright clothing.

Bjørn said...

At least it may be comfort to know that non-hunters are rarely hurt during thwe hunt. From time to time hunters are mistaken for elk (!) but can't ever remember hearing of outsiders hurt.