Isle Royale Forums

Just returned from a 9 day trip from 7/13 - 7/22 with a group of 10. I am convinced that the park rangers have the animals locked up during the day and only let them out during the night. There is no wolves, moose, beavers and there is only one fox and one adult eagle. Of course this isn't true but we seen virtually no animals except the one fox and three eagles during this time. Lots of snakes and loons while fishing from shore is limited to few northerns. Mosquitoes and flies were really not that bad through out. Limited deet was needed, but all were left on the island with full bellies.

Had a great time but was disappointing not seeing any moose, not even the mom and calf at RH. It's funny to hear everyone's opinion on when and were she will appear around the harbor.

We got lucky at Washington Creek on June 30, mama moose and her twins walked by shelter 13 at about 9:15 p.m. He ears did that twitching thing, so we stayed behind the picnic table.

The key to animal observation is to get up at what my friend calls "oh-dark-thirty" and to walk quietly without speaking. Moose suffer greatly from heat and will not be visible much during the day.

I go on moose patrol at dawn every morning when I am on the island and saw six moose on this trip: one swimming at Wood Lake, one grazing near Lake Siskiwit on the Ishpeming Trail, the cow and her twins at Washington Creek, and one mid-day sighting by canoeing to the end of Tobin Harbor. All were cows or calves.

I also saw a big fat beaver, which was quite a thrill, at Wood Lake campground. I mentioned this to Rolf and he said yes, there is a beaver house in Wood Lake, but that there aren't many active houses left on the island.

I saw two foxes and two snowshoe hares, two garter snakes and one red-bellied snake, and about 40 different species of birds.

By the way, one of the Washington Creek calves was limping while we were there on the 22nd/23rd. I asked Ranger Cindy and she said the limp was a recent development. They did not know what had caused it.

Mother moose and calf came THROUGH our campsite (shelter #1) at Washington Creek on July 23rd, 2010. Unsure if this was the mother with twins that has been seen around. Only one baby with her that night! Quite a sight!

Although I hope for the best for the second little calf, this sounds like bad news to me. This cow and her two calves have been at Washington Creek all summer, and now you say you only saw one... The second calf's limp was very pronounced when we saw it July 22/23 and it was having a great deal of trouble keeping up.

After we saw the mother and single calf, we still heard reports/sightings of a mother with twins in the area over the next two days... maybe there were two moms with babies around Washington Creek?

If not, I hope the little one was just hiding in the woods somewhere, and not found by wolves...

There certainly could be a second cow around, so maybe the little gimpy one is hanging in there. Maybe someone will see the twins again and be kind enough to post here to update.

Every trip it is either hit or miss. Saw a lot of cool animals during my 10 day July trip.