Bull moose bedded in the willows

Willow thickets like this one are prime moose habitat, and a bull this size can bed down in the brush and all but vanish except for the antlers rising above the branches. In midsummer his rack is still growing, weeks away from the hardened, full-sized antlers he’ll carry into the fall rut.

Why it matters

Moose antlers can span over five feet across on a mature bull and are grown fresh every year, shed each winter and regrown larger the following spring — by July they’re still covered in blood-rich velvet and actively growing, fueled almost entirely by willow browse like the patch he’s bedded in.

Getting the shot

Kept well back and let the willows partially frame the animal rather than pushing for an unobstructed shot — a bedded bull in the rut is not an animal to approach closely, and the surrounding brush actually adds to the sense of him blending into his own habitat.