A large moose shedding its velvet

A large moose shedding its velvet

Today, we explore the beginning of the rut. Most of the time, moose do three things: eat, rest and move between feeding and resting areas. But every year, in August, something magical happens… the rut! Drop Tine, MisMatch and 22 all appear in this video.

The first sign of the onset of rutting is the loss of velvet from their enormous antlers. It’s fascinating that these animals can grow these huge antlers every year, but once they’ve finished growing for the season, it’s time for the velvet to fall off.

It’s the start of the rut. This video takes us through the various stages of the moulting process.

At 1 minute 06 seconds, we see the first sign of velvet cracking on a tooth, just as molting is about to begin.

At 1 minute 15 seconds, the same bull is seen the next morning, vigorously raking to shred its velvet. Finally, at 2:45 seconds, we see the same bull (left) two days later with a clean rack, free of any velvet residue. Some bulls are more gifted than others. Some bulls can walk around for weeks with strands of dried velvet hanging from the tip of an antler.

Thank you for watching our channel. We’re the husband/wife team of Rick and Libby Libbey, (Libby squared), New Hampshire wildlife photographers (and part-time Alaskans.) It’s our passion to document wildlife in all its forms, but moose are certainly at the top.

In New Hampshire, we spend many of our spring and summer kayaking hours photographing loons and elk in New Hampshire waters. In autumn, we travel many miles in Alaska in search of all kinds of wildlife.

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