Seeing a moose is a bucket list item for many Bearskin guests. What’s even better than seeing one moose? Seeing moose with babies! Baby moose (called calves) are born in May or June, making this an ideal time to catch a glimpse of one. Sometimes moose cows and calves are even seen right near the Main Lodge during this season. They can be a bit harder to spot later in the summer, but they’ll still be around.
The Moose Reproductive Cycle
Unlike other members of the deer family, moose don’t live in herds for most of the year, but they will come together for mating season (also called rutting season) in the fall. Females attract males with long bellowing calls and the males respond with shorter grunting sounds. Males fight each other with their antlers, sometimes to the point of injury or death. It is not uncommon in the fall for us to see young bull moose with broken antlers and large open wounds on their face and torso.
A Moose is Born
After a gestation period of 8 months (around 235 days), the cows give birth. Most of the time a moose will only have one baby, but twins are also common. In very rare cases, there can be three calves.Compared to their giant parents, moose babies are tiny at just 25-35 pounds, but they grow up in a big hurry. The babies can gain over two pounds per day while nursing. They’re also quick to get moving. Moose can stand and walk—although they’re a bit wobbly—soon after being born. Within a week, they can swim and outrun a human, but they are very vulnerable during the first few days after birth.
Moose calves are born reddish-brown and change to more of a brown color after the first couple months. They continue to nurse for about six months. After that, they’ll be weaned, but they’ll stay with their mothers until they’re around a year old. During this first year, the cows defend their calves from predators like wolves and bears.
Survival for all moose is challenging
The 2024 aerial survey of moose in Northeastern Minnesota this winter counted about 3,470 moose in the area. It was a warm winter, so there has been much discussion about how that will affect calving this spring. Moose fare better in slightly cooler temperatures than we experienced during winter 2024. We also had minimal snow, which has pros and cons for moose survival.
A more moderate winter sounds like it would benefit moose, but it’s easier for them to become a predator’s dinner when the snow is less deep. Moose can run up to 35 MPH, and can easily move through massive amounts of snow that will impede a wolf. A low snow year provides an improved advantage to the predators.
Deer tick infestations, which could be serious after our recent winter, also can affect maternal health. How many pregnant cows survived this winter and how many calves will be born this spring? We are all watching to see the outcomes.
Being born is only part of the battle
According to a study published in 2019 in the Journal of Wildlife Management (Patterson et al.), American black bears and grey wolves are the primary predators of moose in our area and may have a marked effect on calf survival. Several years ago visitors canoeing on nearby Crocodile Lake watched as two wolves chased a cow and two very small calves along the lakeshore. The story they told was riveting. The wolves were nipping at the moose cow’s heels, but she hung back behind her calves. With her powerful back legs, she kicked the “living daylights” out of those two wolves. The wolves inflicted some damage on the cow and one of the calves, but the wolves did not escape unscathed.
Teenagers (what happens to our yearling moose in spring)
The family stays together for the next year, but in May or early June it is usually time for the yearlings to make it on their own. Once the cow has a new calf or two, its mother will chase it away. The young moose is not quite full-grown, but might weigh a hefty 300-400 pounds and be growing some small antlers if it’s a male. Around this time of year, we often come across yearling moose wandering around and looking a bit lost and confused. They’re still figuring out how to be grown-up moose, after all!
How to See a Baby Moose Baby moose stick close to their mothers, so you can see them everywhere moose are found. Sometimes they are even found on site at Bearskin! Our theory on this is that to a protective mother, an area with human sounds and smells but that is fairly free of wolf scents seems like a fair trade-off at the moment.
For some tips on how to spot a moose—and how to get some great pictures—check out this article.
