ALAMOSA — Earlier this week, a young bull moose wandered into a fenced in area at the Rio Grande Farm Park and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) staff had to assist him in finding a way out. 

According to Leon Martinez, CPW district wildlife manager, reports of moose have come from every county in the San Luis Valley, but they’re not a common sight. In fact, they weren’t really spotted at all until there was a concentrated effort by CPW about 30 years ago. 

According to John Livingston, Public Information Officer with CPW, from 1991-93, CPW transplanted 93 moose from Wyoming, Utah and North Park, Colorado to the Upper Rio Grande River Valley in Mineral and Hinsdale Counties, near Creede. That program continued the effort of transplanting Shiras Moose to Colorado that was started in 1978 in northern Colorado.  

The transplant effort must have worked because, today, Colorado is home to more than 3,000 moose. 

Historical records dating back to the 1850s indicate that moose wandered into northern Colorado from Wyoming but were transient and never established a stable breeding population.  

In the 1950s, Colorado wildlife officials first considered bringing moose to the state, but no action was taken until the 1960s and early 1970s. There were multiple times moose were transplanted to various parts of the state, but it wasn’t until 1991 that the moose moving activity headed this way with 93 moose transplanted from Wyoming, Utah and North Park, Colorado to the Upper Rio Grande River Valley in Mineral and Hinsdale Counties, near Creede. 

By 2012, the reintroduction program had established a breeding population of about 2,300 moose in Colorado. In the last 13 years, that number has increased to 3,000 moose in Colorado. 

If Alamosa (or elsewhere in the Valley) encounters more moose on the loose like this past week, a little more information might be interesting.  

Colorado’s Shiras moose (Alces alces shirasi)  are the largest species of deer with bulls ranging up to 9 1⁄2 feet long (of which only four inches is tail), six feet tall at the shoulder, and weighing over 1,000 pounds.  

Their body hair is grizzled dark brown, appearing black at a distance, and they have white hair on the inside of their legs. Their thick, dark brown coat appears black at a distance and enables them to stay warm in the coldest winters. Their rumps are brown, not white or cream colored as found in deer, elk, or pronghorn.  

Their long head, overhanging snout, and a pendulant flap of skin of varying sizes hanging from their throat - called a bell - give moose an unmistakable silhouette when observed in the wild. The bell varies in size and is much larger on bulls.  

Moose have very long legs that almost seem too long for their body so they can wade into bodies of water and eat plants off the bottom. Their legs enable them to paw through deep snow to reach food in winter. 

Bull moose grow antlers that are “palmate”— flattened like a hand. Antlers of bulls in their prime may weigh over 50 pounds and can reach five feet wide or wider. Yearling bulls sport small spikes or small plates, with antlers increasing in size as the bulls mature. Antler conformation varies considerably, and it is not uncommon to see a bull moose, especially a younger bull moose, with antlers similar to those of an elk. 

Antler growth begins late winter with the formation of soft “velvet,” the blood-rich skin that nourishes antler growth. Velvet is rubbed off in fall in preparation for the breeding season. After breeding, in early winter, antlers are shed and then re-grown. 

As this week suggested, moose are mainly found as singles or in small groups, not in large herds. 

In Colorado, they’re most abundant in North Park and on the Grand Mesa but have expanded their range to include most of the mountainous regions of Colorado, including along the Front Range, where moose can occasionally be found wandering as far east as Golden, Boulder, and Colorado Springs. Livingston told the Valley Courier there was even a report of a moose in Santa Fe. 

Moose live in forested areas that are often close to lakes and marshes. They are very territorial, will defend their space, and rarely leave their home territory during winter. 

During the winter they are browsers mainly feeding on willows, which also serve as shelter. In the summer they graze on grasses, forbs, underwater vegetation, bushes, coniferous needles, ​and deciduous leaves. 

Gestation period is about eight months. Moose breed in late September and early October. The adult males spar with their antlers and can be extremely aggressive and dangerous. During breeding season is one of the few times they form small groups. 

Calving occurs in late May through early June. Calves are born with a reddish-brown coat (no spots) that darkens with age. The cows often have twins. 

Unfortunately, these extraordinary animals are threatened by the same things that threaten most wildlife, including climate change and severe weather​​​​, the careful but crucial balancing recreation and natural resources, residential and commercial development, energy development and land use all encroaching on wildlands.  

But not all threats are human made. Winter ticks, other parasites and chronic wasting disease also pose a threat.