The enrollment website is open for the 2014 Moose Watch Project.
http://www.isleroyalewolf.org/participa ... orers.html
2014 Moose Watch Project Applications Now Open
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Midwest Ed
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SamMc
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Re: 2014 Moose Watch Project Applications Now Open
Did the August expedition (ferry from Houghton) last summer with my daughter and we are very grateful for having had the experience. Lots of great memories.
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johnhens
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Re: 2014 Moose Watch Project Applications Now Open
I would like to hear of your experiences if you don't mind.SamMc wrote:Did the August expedition (ferry from Houghton) last summer with my daughter and we are very grateful for having had the experience. Lots of great memories.
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SamMc
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Re: 2014 Moose Watch Project Applications Now Open
Be happy to share a bit about our experience. I’d say much of it was expected, but a few things were surprises. I knew we’d spend most of the time walking around looking for moose bones, but I didn’t know that it would all be off-trail. In August, the vegetation is thick and quite challenging to navigate. I guess I also thought we’d be camping in a “home base” and going out on our searches from there, but we only stayed in the same site one or two nights. And we didn’t camp in established campsites. One of the challenges was finding a suitable area for 4-5 tents that was also close to a water source.
Bugs weren’t too bad during the day, but lots of mosquitos at dusk, so dinner turned into a race some evenings, especially if we didn’t get camp set up until late. Boots were wet (on the inside) the entire time. Very stinky feet after a few days. No matter how carefully we tried to plant our feet, the swampy low areas always won. Food was plentiful, but pretty much the same thing every day. Instant oatmeal for breakfast, big hunks of cheese and peanut butter and crackers for lunch, and Lipton noodle or rice pouches for most dinners.
Never saw any live moose, but thought we came close a few times. Fresh scat. I don’t recall exactly how many kill sites we found, but I think it was around 5 or 6, and we learned that a couple of those had actually been found by previous groups.
There were two groups of roughly 6 people per, and we were sent to different areas of the island. There was also a group of natural science teachers that did other stuff separate from us. Rolf and Candy Peterson were very gracious. We stayed in our tents near their cabin on the first and last nights. All in all, it was an awesome experience. Despite the rigors, I loved the beauty of the island, becoming friends with the others in my group, and watching my daughter succeed in what was the toughest thing she had ever done. I know this is a pretty short summary, but I'd be happy to answer any specific questions from folks.
Bugs weren’t too bad during the day, but lots of mosquitos at dusk, so dinner turned into a race some evenings, especially if we didn’t get camp set up until late. Boots were wet (on the inside) the entire time. Very stinky feet after a few days. No matter how carefully we tried to plant our feet, the swampy low areas always won. Food was plentiful, but pretty much the same thing every day. Instant oatmeal for breakfast, big hunks of cheese and peanut butter and crackers for lunch, and Lipton noodle or rice pouches for most dinners.
Never saw any live moose, but thought we came close a few times. Fresh scat. I don’t recall exactly how many kill sites we found, but I think it was around 5 or 6, and we learned that a couple of those had actually been found by previous groups.
There were two groups of roughly 6 people per, and we were sent to different areas of the island. There was also a group of natural science teachers that did other stuff separate from us. Rolf and Candy Peterson were very gracious. We stayed in our tents near their cabin on the first and last nights. All in all, it was an awesome experience. Despite the rigors, I loved the beauty of the island, becoming friends with the others in my group, and watching my daughter succeed in what was the toughest thing she had ever done. I know this is a pretty short summary, but I'd be happy to answer any specific questions from folks.