Board Member, Vern Drake brought an excellent story to us in October – and photos too! Vern and his wife, Lynne, have a home about 2 miles straight west of the intersection of Dry Landing Road and St. Croix Trail. We jokingly refer to Vern as “The Baron of the Barrens.” Without further ado, let’s listen to Vern’s story…..

October 21, 2018
Around 6:15 this evening I came across a pickup truck parked in the middle of Dry Landing Road about a half mile north of St. Croix Trail. There was a young man and woman looking to the east with binoculars. I stopped to see what they were looking at and they told me that a bull moose was standing in the brush just a hundred yards into the barrens. It stood there for some time and they were able to get a few photos.

I’m going to try to get out in the barrens in the same area early in the morning as there’s a good chance that it might have bedded down for the night.

It’s obviously a good size moose based on his hoof print left in the shoulder of Dry Landing Road. Note the cap next to the print.

October 22, 2018
This is in the category “Can you believe this!?!!” On Saturday, Oct. 20th Lynne and I went out to reposition 3 trail cameras, primarily to see where the deer go. We didn’t need the 3rd trail camera so we decided to just put it in our driveway, not only for deer, but also just to see who might come and go to our cabin while we were gone. The camera was set up less than 100 yards down the driveway from the cabin so this morning I decided to retrieve the chip from the camera to make sure it was working properly. I put the chip in the computer and to our astonishment a Bull Moose showed up. He was walking down the middle of the driveway toward the cabin at 8:41pm last evening. It has to be the same moose that was in the barrens earlier in the evening at about 6:15pm –2 hours and 26 minutes earlier.

It is the breeding season, so he’s unlikely to stick around. I think he’s on the move looking for a mate. None-the-less, it’s probably the most fascinating event that we’ve experienced in the 20 years of being up here.