Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Moose sighting near Downer


Recommended Posts

I couldn't believe my eyes when a cow and calf moose trotted across County 10 yesterday morning. They were about 1/4 mile west of the Skree town hall. Has anyone else seen moose in the area or know of anyone that has tame ones that may have gotten out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gal in our office said she saw 2 bulls and a cow and a young one last weekend h=near her house near Flom.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There has been a small resident population of moose in the large swamps around that area for quite some time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 years ago, I was leaving Big C, heading towards Downer in the dark when I almost broadsided a large bull moose doing 70mphg pulling my boat. I still to this day am not sure how I was able to stop. The moose have been inbetween there and Lake Park for many years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

like it was mentioned, there is a remnant population of moose there that are now fragmented due to historical ag practices in the area. Unfortunately, due to the warming climate in the region, the population of the herd is shrinking. Higher tmeps reduce survival rates as fecundity is impacted and susceptiability to disease increases. It is believed the herd will become non-existant within the next few decades.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen'em trotting around that area before. I don't know how often they show up, but it is nice to see those kind of critters around a plowed up area like this. If they'll be gone in a few decades that's too bad. It would be nice if the DNR could do something to help them out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Quote:
It would be nice if the DNR could do something to help them out.

there's not much you can do to keep temps from rising, unfortunately. Believe me, the DNR doesn't want to see the moose gone either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am a couple miles east of Downer and they havn't been this close lately but have been in skree area alot. One of the Bulls is pretty huge I have been told. Come deer season if they are this way sometimes they will get running and not stop till they hit the black swamp area. A friend of mine found two big bulls two years ago locked together dead. Found them in a big cane patch with a big area trampled during the fight. He said the bigger one won but probably suffered the worst and died of starvation. The loser was about trampled flat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a FYI in either the last Field and Stream or Outdoor Life there was an article talking about Global Warming. One of the examples that they mentioned was the plight of the moose population in Minnesota. The article mentioned all of the points theat DeadHead talked about. The reality is as Dead said in a few decades we will not see a moose population in our area and very limited in the traditional range of NW MN, Karlsatd area as an example.

Dead- I am interested in your opinions on global warming and our local lakes and fishing. Are we all going to be zooming around in BassBoats yelling Yee-Haw, chewin red man and catchin bucketmouths!!!!

Jay

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no biologist, but I think to say that in our lifetime we'll see Minnesota's oli and meso lakes turn into florida strain largemouth habitat is a bit far-fetched. I think we are seeing some of the effects however. Fish do seem to be remaining in fall stageing areas a bit longer before moveing to winter areas. In some lakes green weeds are staying around longer even under the ice. Some would argue that our ice conditions are worsening. I think that has more to do with when we get our snowfall, but like I said. I'm no biologist. Maybe 30 years from now the sweet June fishing will be May fishing and the good fall bite will come during deer season. Who knows? I think it is safe to say however that the times and tactics people have relied on for years will have to change in the upcomeing years. Fish will adapt to any changes in weather patterns and fisherman will have to also. To say that our moose population will disapear might be too strong of language. To say that they will migrate to an area with a more suitable climate and habitat may be more likely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Growing up in that area we'd see alot of moose while bow hunting south of highway 10, east of 32, and around Ulen. But the herd was hit pretty hard by brain worm around that time as well. You'd find a lot of animals that had just walked in wide abberant circles until they died (literally). That was around the time (1990-1992??) that the moose herd numbers really took a beating, in my opinion. The DNR has never established a clear "cause-and-effect" relationship between brainworm, which is transmitted from the whitetail to the moose, and moose population decline. However, having lived in that area for the greater part of my life, I've actually thought that numbers of moose were rising as I've seen more moose recently while visiting family then in years past. As well if you hunt pheasants south of Hawley you'll kick out a moose or two from time to time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seen a cow and calf moose last sat morning east of barnsville. That was neat, for I hadnt seen a moose for about 5 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I live not far from the Skree town hall. I have not seen the moose this winter but three of them ran acroos Cty 10 just west of Skree two different times last winter around this time. Once I had to slow down pretty fast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first things you will notice (or already have noticed) are that species found in Minnesota that are on the southern fringe of their distribution range will begin to become extirpated. Examples of these species are tulibee, lake whitefish, brook trout, lake trout, and other coldwater fish, as well as northern pike, walleye, muskellunge, and many sucker species (cool water species). There have been increasing reports of tulibee die-offs across the state over the past decade. Lake Superior and a few other large lakes may be the lone exception, and may provide a coldwater refuge to these fish. Interestingly enough, the increase in water temps may actually increase the productivity of these lakes as the warmer temps will be able to support more micro and macro invertebrate life, resulting in an increased forage base. There is a threshold for optimal productivity in a coldwater lake, involving the saturation of dissolved oxygen (DO) in water, as well as the optimal temperature for growing. Right now, many lakes in the NE part of the state are below optimum temp levels to optimize maximum growth. The rise in global temps will bring those water temps closer to the optimum growth rate.

The outlook for the rest of the state, however, is a little more bleak. The southern and central part of the state will begin to see a decrease in walleye and northern pike abundance, as the summer growing seasons may become too hot for many to survive. If the tulibee population crashes due to increased water temps, there may be a collapse in other game fish as well, since tulibee are often a primary forage fish for most piscavores. Maybe the depletion of tulibee may put too much pressure on yellow perch as forage and collapse that population. Perhaps an opportunistic species like the bluegill may fill the role as the primary forage species. Basically, the increased water temps are going to favor the prolificacy of warm water species like sunfish, catfish, carp, temperate and black basses, etc.

From what fisheries professionals are saying, the period of these changes is bound to occur by mid century, not a hundred years from now, if global temps continue to rise at their current rate. It is quite alarming.

Jay, your prediction of us all becoming bass slayers in the not too distant future may not be all that far off…

GIT R DONE???? crazy.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dead,

Thank you for the info that was great. If you ever have time I would like to get your take on a few other questions on climate change etc. Feel free to drop me an email at jay.rehder at sunopta dot com. Thanks again

J

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.