Something is starting to change in the willows.
You can see it above the eyes of the bulls.
Those giant paddles are almost finished growing.
Right now they are still covered in velvet. Soft looking. Warm. Almost gentle.
Do not let that fool you.
Moose season is coming.
And this is the part of the year I wait for.
What happens right before the moose rut?
Right now, most of the bulls I am watching are still doing what they have been doing all summer.
Eating.
Resting.
Holding near water, willows, river corridors, and shaded country.
I have been working a particular corridor and seeing recognizable bulls there again and again. Those observations are going into the map because this is exactly when knowing the country starts becoming important.
I have seen Hoback too.
The King of the Tetons.
I have photographed that bull through different seasons, and there is still something about seeing him walk out carrying those giant paddles that makes everything else around him feel smaller.
But soon the summer version of these bulls disappears.
Then the velvet starts coming off
This is one of my favorite things to photograph.
It is also something some people do not like looking at.
When those antlers finish growing, the bulls begin rubbing them against trees and brush to remove the velvet.
And it can look rough.
I have photographs where there is velvet hanging from the paddles and blood running down the antlers.
It looks painful. It looks prehistoric. It looks like the animal is changing right in front of you.
You can sometimes feel the restlessness too.
They rub harder.
They work the trees.
They begin carrying themselves differently.
The soft summer crown is becoming the weapon they will carry into the rut.
And then something happens that I keep thinking about
Over the years, I have noticed something around one campground corridor I watch.
There can be a short window before the serious rut activity when several bulls begin appearing in the same general area.
They gather.
They watch each other.
They size each other up.
Then, not long afterward, the serious work begins.
I have wondered about this for years.
Why there?
The obvious answer is habitat. There is good riparian country, water, willows, and food there. Moose have used that corridor during the fall rut for years.
But I have another theory.
And I want to be very clear: this is my field theory. I could be completely wrong.
I sometimes wonder whether human activity changes how comfortable those bulls feel gathering there.
Maybe it feels like neutral ground.
Maybe they are simply used to people being around.
Or maybe I am giving a moose way too much credit and they could not care less about us.
But watching them reminds me of fighters showing up before the match.
Nobody is throwing punches yet.
Everybody is looking around the room.
Then it is on
Once the rut starts, the entire personality of the valley changes.
Bulls begin looking for cows.
They challenge one another.
Antlers meet.
Branches break.
A quiet piece of willow country can suddenly sound like somebody dropped a tree in the middle of it.
And then autumn color arrives around the same time.
Yellow leaves.
Cold mornings.
Mist above the river.
Giant dark animals moving through gold.
This is Grand Teton at its absolute best.
At least it is to me.
I am about to disappear into moose country
I have made a ridiculous number of updates to the map lately.
Seriously. A ridiculous amount.
But there is going to come a point very soon where I have to stop staring at the computer.
Moose season does not care about my software schedule.
When the velvet starts coming off and the bulls begin moving, I need to be out there.
I want to photograph it again.
I want the bloody velvet.
I want the giant bulls rubbing trees.
I want the first cold mornings.
I want Hoback.
I want the new bulls I have not learned yet.
And I want to mark as much of that changing movement as I can while it is happening.
I have been holding back a lot of photographs
So over the next several weeks, you are going to start seeing moose.
A lot of moose.
I have photographs from last season that I never shared.
I have Hoback photographs.
Velvet photographs.
Rut photographs.
I even have moose photographs with airplanes moving through the background near the airport that still make me laugh when I look at them.
I have been sitting on all of it.
Now seems like the right time to start opening the vault.
If moose are why you are coming, start learning now
The rut does not begin with two giant bulls crashing antlers together.
It begins weeks earlier.
It begins with food.
Water.
Velvet.
Movement.
Familiar corridors.
And small changes that start telling you where the season is headed.
That is what I am watching right now.
If moose are one of the reasons you are coming to Grand Teton, explore the interactive wildlife map. I am already marking the corridors and recent observations I am seeing in the field, and those patterns will keep changing as we move toward the rut.
The kings are still wearing velvet.
Not for long.
Keep wildlife wild.
