In this video from the Facebook page Grace of Nature, Gail Smith captured a large bull moose walking out of a pond.
This is her favorite place to sit and watch moose, she said.
“My secret spot — so I don’t tell anyone where it is. I put a blind in there where the moose come out. They don’t come in every day, and I hardly ever get the same bull more than twice,” she said.
While Smith will check cameras instead of holding a rifle this season, thousands of hunters across Maine, Alaska and the northern Rockies dream of encounters like this. The footage ignites a familiar ache among those who understand that moose hunting isn’t just about the harvest — it’s about outwitting one of nature’s most elusive giants.
Because moose are semi-aquatic, they can be difficult to find on or near the roads during a warm hunt season. Instead they retreat to wetlands, swamps, beaver dams and hidden ponds like this dandy did. This is an animal that can vanish into habitats you can’t even walk through, they can hear you from a couple hundred yards away and they choose when and where to show themself.
Can you imagine sitting in a blind like Smith, waiting for a monster to emerge from the water at daylight?
The irony isn’t lost on me or likely any 2025 moose hunter reading this. It’s often that the best moose encounters happen to those who aren’t hunting them at all.
This video poses the ultimate question that divides hunters from wildlife watchers: given the opportunity, the perfect setup and a valid tag, would you take the shot?
