Publisher’s Perspective

By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune

There was a moose on the loose in the New London-Spicer area last week and the sighting was lighting up Facebook as photos and videos of the animal were being posted by residents in Kandiyohi and Meeker counties.

“Rut the moose” as he was named, was filmed running trotting along Hillcrest Avenue about 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, in the town of Spicer. He apparently traversed along the south shore of Green Lake since Tuesday afternoon.

He was also photographed and filmed over the past week across the region by various contributing photographers. He is apparently traveling north by northwest.

The moose was sighted on the east shoreline of Green Lake late last Tuesday afternoon along Indian Beach Road.

We saw him about “2 p.m. (Tuesday) afternoon on Indian Beach Road” in rural Spicer, Ethan Ellingson wrote in a Facebook post. “Poor guy seemed pretty scared trying to go north on the right side of Green but with all the foot traffic and regular cars he had to loop back around.”

The young bull moose was spotted southeast of Spicer on Monday morning. Photos of the moose in corn country near Atwater and Grove City on Sunday have been posted as well. Over the weekend, what appears to be the same animal was seen in the Dassel and Cokato area, according to reports by the West Central Tribune.

Word of advice: Don’t get in the way of a bull moose.

Moose are large and powerful animals and can be aggressive this time of year, according to Hagan Messer, with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife office in New London.

Motorists should also be alert for the moose, as they should for deer this time of year. The animals do not recognize the danger of vehicles or headlights, and deer are active as they come into the rut.

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Every so often there are moose sightings in this part of the state.  I’ve taken “moose” photos in the fall while working at newspapers in Paynesville and in Granite Falls.  The first moose I photographed was near Regal, Minn. and it was a mature bull moose.  I remember I caught a good photo of the moose just curiously looking at me and the headline was “Regal Moose.”

A few years ago, coyote hunters in the Glenwood area photographed another rare animal when they took pictures of a cougar, perched in a tree just watching them.  That photo also was widely distributed and ended up on the front page of the Pope County Tribune.  That cougar, sighted in February of 2013, was the second time a cougar was confirmed to be in Pope County.  Two years earlier, a dead cougar was found in the county and reported to the DNR.

It’s unlikely that cougar are making Pope County a home.  It’s more likely they are like the moose, just passing through the area.  The DNR contends that while there have been more sightings of cougars in Minnesota in recent years, there is no evidence that there is a self-sustaining, breeding population in this state.

A few years ago, another hunter got pictures on a trail camera of a black bear just south of  Glenwood.  Bears have also been seen on occasion in Pope County, but the DNR doesn’t believe there is a population living here.  Just tourists, I guess.