I’ve been going to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge for over 10 years and I’ve only ever seen a few moose in all those trips. Lately, I’ve been focused on trying to find otters, birds, and a family of raccoons near Middle Pine Lake. But I’ve always heard about people coming across moose out at Turnbull. For a long time, I chalked it up to bad luck. Shortly after we started going out to Turnbull, we were on the auto tour route and spotted a bull moose a few hundred yards away out in an open field. At the time I didn’t really have a telephoto lens, I had a kit 70-300mm lens and a Nikon D600. It was a great lens for the sidelines of a kid’s soccer game, but not for capturing wildlife hundreds of yards away. What I came away with were two things…a shitty photo of a moose and the determination to get a better one.

January 1, 2018 I finally found a moose in Turnbull. I even got this terrible photo to prove it!

I’ve spent years hiking through Turnbull hoping to come across another moose and it took a few years before I finally did. I was parked near the bathrooms and thought I’d walk up toward the visitors center and make my way toward the upper ponds. I had heard that someone saw some otters in the ponds near the visitor center and thought it would be cool to see if I could find them too. At the time, I hadn’t seen any otters at the refuge yet, so this was a new exciting animal to try and capture. I was walking along the road and thinking about where I should set up with the sun basically being directly overhead when I heard a rustling in the trees off to my left. I looked over and realized I was about 50 feet from a cow moose chewing on some leaves. I quickly set up and got a few shots before she darted out from the tree line and ran across the road. I’m not even sure she registered my presence in the road as she ran by me and ducked into the fields between the visitors center and the lake. She walked out about halfway and then bedded down and disappeared in the reeds. That was a wake up call for how big these animals are and how much ground they can cover in a hurry.

About one minute before chaos, this female moose was enjoying some leaves before something in the woods behind her spooked her.

Living in the greater Spokane area, I’ve seen moose somewhat frequently throughout my life. It’s always a cool experience and I realize now how much I’ve taken for granted that we have such easy access to these amazing animals. In my early twenties I went to Glacier National Park with my dad and a few co-workers. We came across a moose that stopped us from continuing on a trail for nearly a half hour. It was angry, and we weren’t about to push it. We climbed up on a rock and waited. While we were waiting the moose out, my dad told us stories of growing up in Alaska as a kid and seeing moose frequently. He told us about a time he and his friends threw snowballs at a moose while waiting for the school bus and my grandmother ran out of the house to yell at them. We all laughed about it and the moose finally lost interest in us and went in another direction. While on the rock we debated which would be worse, startling a moose or a grizzly along the trail. I decided I’d take my chances with a moose, but even from a distance they’re formidable.

My wife and I bought our first house near the Dishman Hills in Spokane Valley and we had moose in the neighborhood a few times during the nine years we lived there. It seemed like they were always smaller juveniles or cows, and we never got the bull moose with the giant antlers. There was one night where we were watching TV in the living room and saw something moving outside in the front yard. Our dogs started going crazy and barked like mad. From the couch, I could see through the window blinds that there was something eerily moving outside. I thought it was a horse outside the window. We ran over to look and we saw a giant cow moose walking in our front yard toward our driveway. My wife had a Ford Focus at the time and as the moose walked by it, we could nearly see the entire car beneath her body as she walked alongside the car!

When I started getting serious about wildlife photography, I created a mental list of animals I wanted to capture. A bull moose was near the top of the list and I always keep on the lookout when I’m out and about, regardless of what my focus is that particular trip. Shortly after I picked up my 800mm lens, I had heard through social media posts that there was a big bull moose hanging out in Kiwanis Park outside Post Falls, Idaho. I made a few trips and struck out, but still I kept seeing the posts online. One Sunday afternoon, after buying a small freezer from a gal in Liberty Lake, I decided to continue out to Post Falls and try my luck one more time. As I walked along the trail, I saw a woman with a telephoto lens walking toward me. I always make a habit of stopping folks with big lenses to see if they’d found anything good. Today I was in luck. “Oh the moose? Yeah, she’s bedded down right over there.” She turned around and pointed behind her. “Want me to show you?”

“Yes please!”

She turned around and I followed her for a few minutes before she stopped and pointed to a large moose, bedded down off the main trail. “Thanks!” I whispered, and started to frame my shot. It wasn’t a bull, but it was a beautiful female moose bedded down and just looking around the park. I’ll take it.

This summer has been a whirlwind and I haven’t been able to get out as much as I’d like. We’re in the process of trying to move and in this climate, that’s been a pretty stressful ordeal. I had a list of photography projects I wanted to accomplish this summer and fall and unfortunately, I wasn’t really able to get to many. However, when I started seeing a ton of people posting their photos of moose out and about in Turnbull for the annual rut, I knew I had to get back out there. Then I saw it, a video of a giant bull walking through the woods. It had a look of almost being AI generated, but it was captioned “Turnbull Wildlife Refuge” with some still shots posted beneath. I saw a few other social media posts that referenced a bull, a cow, and a baby hanging out together in the refuge and I decided to get out there and search for them.

I went out on a Sunday morning, hoping of course to find the family of moose, but keeping an open mind to whatever came my way. I started off my trek as I always do, making a circle around Middle Pine Lake. In my experience, bodies of water are a great place to find animal activity. As I made my way around, the water level was noticeably low, so otters were out. I could barely see the water from the trail and I’m not about to trample an animal trail leading to the water’s edge just to see if I can get a better shot. I also noticed a distinct lack of birds. I think we must be in a migratory pattern where a lot of the smaller birds are gone but the winter birds haven’t quite made it in yet.

I walked past a grouping of trees and the trail opened up with views across the small lake again, and that’s when I saw him. The Big Man was slowly making his way along the fields a few hundred yards away from me. I took a photo just for the hell of it. I may never see him again, so I wanted to at least capture this one. I booked it along the trail to loop back toward an area where I could hopefully get a better shot. As I made it closer, I ran across another photographer on the trail. “Did you see the moose?” I asked while pointing up toward the obscured hillside without stopping. “No, but can I join you?” he asked. I nodded and kept going. As we made it to the open clearing, it was clear that the Big Man didn’t want his photo taken. He had moved much closer to the tree line and was making his way back into the woods. “Damn…alright, I’m going to follow him.” I said. “Ok, I’m more into birds anyway. You haven’t seen any owls have you?” Buddy, today’s not the day. “They’re on my list, but I’ve never seen a single owl in over ten years of walking around out here.” I said dejectedly. With that, we went our separate ways and I spent the next hour trying to find the Big Man. But I never got much closer when I finally found him about 30 minutes later in another open field. He continued walking away from me. I took a few photos of his ass, but he never turned around for the type of shot I was after. He made his way back into the trees and I made my way back to my car to try the auto route. Next time Big Man…

Along the auto route, I came across a few parked cars (always a good sign). I stopped, got out, and walked toward the congregation. I could see a female moose chewing on some aspen branches. She was pretty obscured, but I thought I’d see what I could get. While I waited along the road for a better shot, a car pulled behind me and a woman got out. “Is it ok if I stand here by you?” she asked. “Sure.” I said, raising my camera up. “I’ve always wanted to see a moose!” She seemed excited, but nervous. “Now you have.” I said. It came out kind of condescending, which wasn’t my intention, so I had to recover. “I’ve heard that there might be a baby with her.” I said as we watched three people with cameras make their way through the field toward the moose. “Is that smart to get so close?” She asked me. “Definitely not.” I replied. We watched as they slowly made their way closer and closer, and I thought about the other side of the refuge where I’d nearly been ran over in the road a few years ago by a moose taking off away from the tree line. “They can cover a lot of ground in a hurry, and they aren’t really afraid of anything.” I said. We continued to chitchat while watching the moose eat her lunch and three idiots break basically every ethical rule of wildlife photography.

“I used to do a lot of photography.” She said. “In fact, I was a crime scene photographer for Tucson PD for several years before moving up here.”

“No shit?!” I lowered my camera and turned toward her. “I was a crime scene responder for 15 years.” What a small world we live in.

“I had enough of that though.” She looked back toward the moose.

“I get that…me too.” I looked back at the moose.

After a few minutes of saying nothing further, she turned to me and said “Have a nice day. Good luck out here.” And got in her car and drove on. I got a few more shots and walked back to my car. The three idiots had made their way out of sight, possibly to get another angle. I was afraid that it would drive here toward me and I wasn’t interested in getting trampled by a moose today.

The next morning, before heading to the office, I looked at my camera on the dining room table. It was Monday and our after school activities were minimal. My office is 10 minutes from the Turnbull main gate. I could be there by 5:30 easily and there would be about an hour of light left. I grabbed my camera and headed out the door.

After work, I raced to the Refuge and did my obligatory lap around Middle Pine Lake. Nothing. I decided I’d have enough time to hit the auto route before losing light. As I rounded the first corner of the auto route, I saw him. Big Man! He was standing just off the road, looking around as the cow and baby were not far away. Good lord! All three at once! There were a few cars stopped and people had their cameras out. These were serious hobbyists and nobody was breaking the rules today. Everyone maintained their distance, and were courteous to their fellow photographers about not encroaching on space or obliviously walking in front of their shot. The light was perfect and it was go time.

I didn’t have my tripod with me (a lot of my stuff has been packed away since June) so I was left to handhold. As much as I wanted to take a video, that lens is bulky and it would look more like the Blair Witch Project than a serene video of a giant bull moose with his family. I started to shoot and immediately realized how close we actually were. I had a hard time not filling the frame. Usually, I’m cropping in considerably just to get a good frame. “It’s almost too much lens eh?” said the guy next to me with what looked like the Canon equivalent of my setup. “Yeah, his rack is huge! It’s tough to get a good shot this close.” I said backing up and stepping on dried leaves and pine needles loudly. Big Man couldn’t be bothered at all.

For the next 15 minutes, I moved around and got as many shots as I could. The rutting season has begun and moose are much more active right now. As I reviewed my shots, I could see that Big Man had already been in at least one fight. Part of his antler was broken off, leaving a jagged edge where one of the tines likely was. I can’t imagine something that big charging full force at you. As the sun started to go down and filter through the trees, Big Man bedded down and nearly disappeared in the tall grass. The show was over, but it was incredible to witness.

I’ve been chasing after moose for years and I finally got the shots I’ve been dreaming of. I hope you enjoy them! Thanks for following along.

Chasing After The “Big Man”

Last Man on Earth: A Bird’s-Eye View of Solitude