Three Part Series on the Moose Rut Part 2

This is 23 after the fight with AGB in 2025. He's heaving for air. He was spent. Exhausted. And we didn't know it at the time. He was also injured. And this little, cute, adorable, innocent cow was a lot of the reason why he was so exhausted. This is Julie, named for the jewelry in her left ear. She has a tag. She ran him ragged, teasing him by running off with other bulls. And he followed her everywhere. And we did too. Here he's standing guard near her after finding her after two days of looking all over the place. Here's Van Gogh walking in on 23 walking away. Van Gogh was looking to start trouble. And 23 wanted no part of it. He was exhausted from chasing Julie around all over the place. And he certainly wasn't in the mood for Van Gogh's games. We eventually found him in the high country. Now this is where he was hiding away to heal himself. As we didn't realize it back then. But he suffered a pretty bad ear injury. And he removed himself from all the drama down below in the valley and sequestered himself up high. Up there he was left alone. Nobody bothered him up there. He could get his much needed rest. So he could heal. Of course we were intrigued and concerned because we knew he wasn't himself. He just wasn't acting normally. So we kept going back up there. And believe me it's a hike. To keep an eye on him. We kind of babysat him from a distance. And we learned what moose do when they're in this situation. They rest. They rest a lot. That's how they heal. That and when their appetites return they do start seeking particular plant matter. Now it took him a few days to start to pick at things. But once he did he was being very particular about what he was eating. He'd look around the base of the hemlocks and the spruce trees. And he'd start digging stuff up with his teeth. And we've seen them eat minerals in the dirt before. But this. Well he actually picked up a root and ate it. And we hadn't seen that before. And doing a little research we did find that these plants do have medicinal value. Anti-inflammatory and helping to fight infection. I told you it was a hike getting up to him. There he is in the photo that we showed you the other day. It was good to see him starting to come back to himself. He still needed a little bit more time up there. But we could see that he was getting better. Little by little. And yes there was a day with wolves up there. There was a day where the grizzly sow and her cub blasted across the mountainside. But those are naturally occurring up there. Nobody was going to bother our strapping. Big. Strong. 23. He could still handle himself. And besides he still had some rut business to attend to. You'll see. Thank you for watching. Please subscribe.