Moose in wrappings; moose wrappings minus the moose; the man who made me stop on the road

I took this from my bicycle as I pedaled by a little after 10:30 PM, under heavy overcast and occasional sprinkle, maybe 100 yards up Schrock Road from the bridge that crosses the Little Susitna River. I didn't stop, I didn't slow down. I just pedaled by and shot as I did. I thought about stopping, but then the moose would either have charged into the trees, or charged me.

I think it would have chosen the first option and charged into the trees, but you never know. If it was the first, then all I would have gotten as a result of my stop would have been a picture of moose butt as it fled.

True, if it had charged me - and there have been a good number of moose stompings in this part of the country this spring - I might have got a real interesting picture.

Then, the next afternoon, a few miles away on the other side of the bridge, I came upon this moose hide, lying at the side of the road. There are many possible explanations, ranging from the most cynical - that someone poached the moose out of season and then, flipping a middle finger to society, flagrantly dropped its hide right here, to the most benign - that someone got the moose in season, skinned and put it up properly, hung the hide in his garage and then, come June, a pack of dogs drug it out of the garage and left it here.

Maybe it is a road kill, and the hide got here how, I don't know.

I am a bit suspicious, though. If you look at the hide on the living moose in frame one, you will notice that the moose has begun the process of shedding its winter coat.

If you look at this hide, you will notice that it appears to be in the same state of early shedding, which would indicate that it did not die in season, but very recently. Of course, I am not a scientist or even a greatly skilled outdoorsman (although I am an outdoorsman), so my speculations could be completely off base.

Maybe the moose just got too hot, said, "I'm not going to wear this damn thing anymore," and dropped the whole hide right here.

It almost looks like the very same hide worn by the moose in the first picture... but... nah... couldn't be...

So I was driving to Metro Cafe, even before I got to the moose hide. This guy made me stop, right here. I had to sit and wait until he gave me permission to drive again.