Moose and reindeer.
 

Moose 1980-12-24. I took this picture from our car! 

 

In Sweden we have moose in the woods. They are wild and nobody is keeping them. In Swedish it's called ”�lg”. It can be dangerous for a car driver to run into a moose. You have to be careful when you are on the road. I have seen moose from the car and from the bus.

Some years ago, it was Christmas Eve, we went by car to Ove’s parents. Then we saw these two moose near the road E4.

Another year, it was Christmas Eve too, we went by car to Ove’s sister. It was ten o’clock in the morning and we passed a village. Suddenly a moose crossed the road. It came from one of the gardens over the high piles of snow. Fortunately Ove was driving slowly, because we were in a village. And Ove could put on the brake in time. The moose was only one meter in front of our car! Ove stopped the car and was waiting because there was another moose following the first one, and even that moose crossed the road in front of our car, and moved to a garden at the other side of the road.

1980-05-26. This was also on the E4. We were with the car on our way home from Ove's parents. It was early in the evening. Then a moose crossed the road. Fortunately behind our car. The car behind us was fortunately far away from the moose. It's a bad picture, I had to do a kind of fast shot with my old Pentax camera. At the right you can see the moose coming on the road.
Here you can see the moose on the left, disappearing in the woods. Ove put on his warning light to the car behind us. Very often there can came another moose following the first one.
This is the dropping (poo) of a moose. I took this picture in the wood after we seen moose while  hiking.

For many years ago, it must have been 1978, Ove and I were walking in the woods not so far from our town. We had some coffee and cookies with us, and took a coffee pause. We were sitting on a blanket beside an exercise track. Behind us we heard some rustle in the bushes. But we thought there were some birds. A man came exercising, running on the path. Then suddenly there came three moose running out from the woods and they crossed the path right in front of the man.

We all were rather amazed to see these big animals so close to us. The rustle we heard behind us were no birds, it were moose!
 
This picture of moose is taken in the Zoo at skansen. Stockholm in the year 2000.

In Sweden the moose hunting begins in the autumn. In the north of Sweden, there we live it begins in September. You may hunt moose but you must have gone some courses about nature and a course in shooting. You must be a member of a hunting group and have hunting license. And every year you must do a test in shooting.

It's most the hunters who have moose meat in the freezer, but we can buy thin slices of moose (also of reindeer) in the shops in a little box. I have tasted this. Once I got minced meat from a hunter and I made   hamburger of it. The moose meat is rather dry and you need a sauce to it.
This picture of 2 moose calves is taken of my friend in Stockholm at the zoo in Skansen.  They are real cute.

One winter we had  2 moose in our neighbourhood. They walked in the streets and they were eating from the gardens behind the house we are living. One of my neighbours saw the moose on the skating-rink near our house. Onother neigbour met these moose on her walk to work. In the street behind our street. Then she was scared and went to onother street.

I never saw the moose. But in the spring when the snow melted away I found droppings of moose  beside the front door of our house.

This reindeer is rather dangerous. It's a ruttish male. Keep out of it's way! But fortunately this reindeer was behind a fence when I took the picture, so it could not hurt me. It was owed of the university for researching

You can meet reindeer in the mountains or in the woods in the north of Sweden. When it's hot in summer, the reindeer are going in the bare mountain region above the tree line. I have seen reindeer when I was in the mountains. It was a wonderful sight to see a herd of these beautiful animals.
 
The Sami in Sweden are keeping reindeer in the mountains. But reindeer are not in a fence like cows. They are running free and they are half wild and half tame. The Sami put a mark in the ears of the reindeer. Then they know who is the owner of a reindeer. In autumn the Sami drive the reindeer together inside a fence and catch them with a lasso to separate them.

You may NOT hunt reindeer. The reindeer are owned  of the Sami.

The Swedish reindeer are NOT real wild like the caribou
Here the reindeer are temporary behind a fence. They owner will set them free again later.
In summer the reindeer are going in the bare mountain region above the tree line. In winter they are in the woods. But even in summer you can find reindeer in the woods.

Once when my husband and  I was walking in the mountains in the woods region. Then  we scared two reindeer who suddenly came on the path. They run away.

Sometimes the reindeer are on the roads. You have to take care when you're driving. I have seen reindeer on the roads from the bus and from our car too.

I saw this reindeer in the zoo in Lycksele.

Wilhelmina Schedin 2020-11-11