JACKSON, Wyo. — A young bull moose showed off his velvet antlers while munching on fall foliage along the Gros Ventre River last week.
Buckrail’s photographer Nick Sulzer used his long lens to capture the moose peeking his head out over willows on Sept. 6. This ungulate’s smaller rack indicates that he is most likely a younger bull moose, per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
According to the FWS, antler size in the fall indicates approximate age. A yearling bull typically has small bumps called pedicles on each side of the forehead. As a moose matures, the antlers enlarge until they are knobs. When a bull reaches approximately 5 to 10 years of age, its antlers grow into paddles, which are broad, flat, boney structures.
In the fall, moose shed the velvet from their antlers. The FWS wrote on its website that in early September moose strip off the velvet by rubbing on trees and bushes to reveal the growing bone underneath. A moose will then use its hardened antlers to fend off other males during the rutting or breeding season, which typically runs from late September to mid-October.
