Lifecruiser

March 9th, 2006

The moose lose

Posted by Lifecruiser in Swedish
Swedish moose sign

The moose is called the King of the Forest here in Sweden, but I don’t know if agree with that…

Sweden has the highest population of moose in the world, 300 000. A third of these are killed during the annual hunt. Then on the other hand, the reproduction is the fastest on the planet and the same amount of moose stalk the forests by the following autumn. Most of them (and the biggest ones) can be found in the northern Sweden, some of them with as much as 26 tynes in their crowns.

Formerly an economic necessity, the moose hunt is now more a matter of lifestyle and keeping an old tradition alive. About 250 000 of our 9 million inhabitants now have a moosehunting license and may be able to provide friends and relations with a big, juicy moose steak.

“Things Swedish” by Mari Hemming

I have eaten moose steak, but not so often. It’s good, if you forget about adding the juniper berries and stuff that makes it taste so wild.

I’ve mostly seen them on the sides of the roads, but I’ve grow up and lived all my life around Stockholm which is a city so….

When I was a teenager and was in the stables of the nearest riding school, I got really close to one female moose once. It was in the forest just at the side of the stable and I thought it was a horse that had came loose, so I went forward to catch it. She was standing there eating some leafs from a bush, partly hidden. Then she raised her head when I came closer and I saw what it was! Need I say that I backed away quickly from there…?

We have a lot of moose warning signs at the side of the roads around Sweden, despite the fact that we even have high fences to protect the car drivers from hitting any moose with their cars. That have decreased the amount of accidents.

The only problem is that the signs have become very popular among certain tourists, so they suddenly disappear mysterious….

Secret whisper: There is some questionable rumours saying that moose poo in cans is sold to tourists with great success!

Cruise list: Sharlet, Miss Ass.Lifecruisern, Dot, Skye, Abaniko, Walker, and Dave.

13 Responses to ' The moose lose '

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  1. Dave said:

    No moose here, just deer, lots of deer. And we like venison. We see them on a daily basis both alive and dead at the side of the road.

    March 9th, 2006 at 2:34 am

  2. Walker said:

    We have moose here and annual moose hunts. I dont know how many we have but its got to be a few.
    I have eaten moose meat and could honestly say I don’t like it.
    Deer meat either.
    Give me a beef steak and I’ll be happy.
    I think its because it tastes gamey.
    I can see the need to culling the herd. We are exoeriencing deer over population here.
    People just dont hunt anymore.
    To much trouble.
    You have to go into the DEEEEEEEEEP woods. Walker maybe 5 kilometers.
    Then when you find a moose you have to get him mad at you so he will chase tou 5 kilometers back to the car then shoot him.
    You don’t think anyone would want to carry a 1000 pound moose 5 km do you LOL

    March 9th, 2006 at 10:23 am

  3. Miss ass.Lifecruiser said:

    *lol*… You did forget something real importent! We sell moose poo…:) That is NOT a joke!!

    My daughter had some schoolgirls from Scotland here a few years ago. They had never seen a moose in real life. We were lucky one evening when we were out driving. One moose were standing on the side of the road..not any moose..a white one! They are really rare…. The girls went really exited.

    March 9th, 2006 at 10:43 am

  4. Lifecruiser said:

    Dave:
    We have very much roe deers here, too much. Even here in the Stockholm area. They go into peoples garden and eat up their flowers. I saw 6 of them the other night outside our window.

    Walker:
    Here in Sweden they hunt in big hunting teams and they flays and cut it up on spot in the woods, then transport the meat out of there. Splitted up between the hunters.

    Miss Ass. Lifecruiser:
    Are you sure it isn’t just a joke? I have never seen it, just heard the rumours about it.

    March 9th, 2006 at 11:06 am

  5. Abaniko said:

    Moose poo in cans? Eww! That’s even worse than “mansanitas” smeared with bat poo. I resign from being a hungry monster if that’s the case. :D

    March 9th, 2006 at 11:21 am

  6. skye said:

    I’m happy to report that I’ve never tried it, but then again, I’m a vegetarian. Even so, I’m not against culling the herd, as long as it’s not just to put a set of antlers up on the wall. At least they had a chance to live a life in the wild and not trapped in a small paddock.

    I did a search on Moose Poo, and apparently, you Swedes aren’t the only ones selling it to tourists…lol. Here’s one link I came across.

    March 9th, 2006 at 7:38 pm

  7. Lifecruiser said:

    No, Skye, this is for eating, not just for the antlers. A tradition kept from the past, when it was an important contribution for peoples survival. It’s not my favourite, but edible.

    I can’t imagine why people want to buy that moose poo stuff… *shaking my head*

    March 9th, 2006 at 8:22 pm

  8. Dot said:

    I saw my first up close moose about 4 years ago. It cam walking slowly down our road, went into the small wooded area across from my house and laid down. I got my camera and went with an older grandson right up to about three feet of where it was laying. It just moved it`s head to watch us and never even attempted to stand up. I still have that picture that we took. It was the only time a moose ever came down our road and I have lived here since 1955. The next yr there was a young fawn that came down our road into the wooded area. Someone`s dog on the next road barked and off went the fawn. His feet only hit the ground 3 times and he was out of sight behind the house on the corner. I snapped the picture, but it was so fast i never got the deer in the picture. I live about 2- to 3 miles from the foot of a mountain where they have a ski center. I think the lights from the center might bescaring the animals, or it might be from lack of food that brings them down from the mountains. One mighty tall moose. Glad it didn`t get back up while we were taking the picture. At dawn the next morning I checked and it was gone.

    March 10th, 2006 at 2:08 am

  9. Lifecruiser said:

    Yes, dot, it sounds like the lights (and people) or lack of food brings them down from the mountains. Probably the later, as it were laying down too.
    It’s nice to see them though, they certainly brings respect for the natures creations!!!!!

    March 10th, 2006 at 2:13 am

  10. Miss Ass.Lifecruisern said:

    There you see Mrs. Life… I do know what I’m talking about…at least when it comes to Poo and shit!*lol*

    March 10th, 2006 at 11:21 am

  11. sharlet said:

    Very interesting!! But I wonder, how can the drivers hit moose? Moose are very big aren’t they? The drivers can see them on the road…

    March 13th, 2006 at 10:44 am

  12. Lifecruiser said:

    The drivers have no problems to hit the moose, because of the fact that it’s vegetation at the sides of the road, so the appear so suddenly for the driver. Suddenly they just run or stand in the middle of the way and to stop a moving car isn’t done at the spot. And as you say, they are really BIG, so the damage of the car are total and very often bad injured driver and passangers. A fullgrown moose weight is about 600-800 kilos. The moose runs with a normal speed of approx. 15 km (9,3 miles) per hour and up to 56 km (35 miles) per hour, so no wonder they appear suddenly :-)

    March 13th, 2006 at 10:57 am

  13. sharlet said:

    Oh no! That’s bad! If I were travelling along a road, with no other cars around, I would horn very loudly continuously to scare the moose away from the road (hope that works!).

    March 15th, 2006 at 9:07 pm

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