Okay, I bought the Preiser moose set (3 males) in HO scale, and they look pretty nice. But I'm thinking to myself, "Shouldn't there be a female moose figure somewhere on my layout for a supposed reason that the male moose has wandered all the way into NE Arizona/NW New Mexico?" (My RR is fictional, but set near the Four Corners area of the Southwest).
I went looking, and haven't so far been able to find a female moose figure. I was wondering (hard to tell from the photos I've found online how closely the male and female mooses/meese's (?) bodies resemble each other. Would it be similar enough that I could (very carefully) take my tools to one of my Preiser male moose figures and remove the antlers to get a passable female moose?
Any biologists who are model railroaders and could authoritatively help clear this up for me, please feel free to jump in here. Or at least, tell me how I would need to modify a Preiser male moose figure to get it looking sort of like a female. We're not talking exact enough to fool a real moose male, just for 1:87th scale. I'm guessing male mooses might not have the best vision, anyway...
Or shall I just let my moose male(s) remain lonely wanderers? Guess I could consider my male moose as like the dinosaurs on John Allen's layout (a quirky, tongue-in-cheek approach to the Southwest...).
Jim in Cape Girardeau
Well, they don't have those things that stick out in the front and they don't have those things that stick out in the back.
(If you have XP Microsoft included a couple pictures of female moose. Look in My Pictures)
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
SpaceMouse wrote: Well, they don't have those things that stick out in the front and they don't have those things that stick out in the back. (
(
Males lose their antlers for the winter: they regrow in Spring. So, if you're modeling a winter season, none of your moose should have antlers. Exception: if a bull moose is castrated, either due to accidental or chemical means, he will quickly shed his current set of antlers and then immediately begin to grow a new set of misshapen and deformed antlers that he will wear the rest of his life without ever shedding again. The distinctive looking appendages (often referred to as "devil's antlers") are the source of several myths and legends
Adult male mooses weigh more than females. On average, males weigh 850-1180 pounds and females weigh 600-800 pounds).
Mark
SpaceMouse wrote:Well, they don't have those things that stick out in the front and they don't have those things that stick out in the back. (If you have XP Microsoft included a couple pictures of female moose. Look in My Pictures)
You mean to tell me female mooses don't have tails ????
Just to clear things up...
Its moose... Like a school of fish.A heard of moose. Mooses isnt a word.
(ducks and runs)
Niagara Railroader wrote:Just to clear things up... Its moose... Like a school of fish.A heard of moose. Mooses isnt a word. (ducks and runs)
OK, but if a herd of mouse is mice, then a heard of moose is mise or moosi. It all depends on what side of the creek (crick) your on. (also duckin an runnin)
Argh now I'm totally confustiated! (crazy Texans) (still running).....
Ok sorry to hijack.. Back to female moose.
alexP
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Niagara Railroader wrote: Just to clear things up... Its moose... Like a school of fish.A heard of moose. Mooses isnt a word. (ducks and runs)
I enjoy setting traps.
and to clear it up even more, it's a herd of moose.
Bob
Spelling to the truly creative is merely........ a suggestion
Thanks for catching that though... Another lazy Sunday tends to knock me off my spelling game!
Niagara Railroader wrote: Argh now I'm totally confustiated! (crazy Texans) (still running)..... Ok sorry to hijack.. Back to female moose. alexP
Peeples is scuewy.
So, knowing that you're modeling the 4 corners, what praytell possessed you to buy moosemeeces of any genders?
-Morgan
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
R. T. POTEET wrote:I stumbled into a female with calf in the backcountry of Yellowstone Park one time and was very thankful that they didn't possess antlers; the son-of-a-gun chased me into a tree and could probably have snagged me had it had antlers.
Don't you mean "daughter-of-a-gun," since it was a lady moose?
This one, of course, is a "trained" moose:
Jim, having had Moose walk through my yard, and having one stop dead in front of me while doing 50 in an old Taurus, just cut the rack off and no one will be the wiser. Some people think that both male and female Moose have antlers anyways. LOL
Someone looking for a moose with baby? From Grand Teton, 2006. Taken trailside, about 30 feet away from mother and child. If you look closely, you'll see some Aggro trees in the background!
Don Z.
Research; it's not just for geeks.
Don Z wrote: Someone looking for a moose with baby? From Grand Teton, 2006. Taken trailside, about 30 feet away from mother and child. If you look closely, you'll see some Aggro trees in the background!Don Z.
No here is what a moose looks like
Dave Nelson
MisterBeasley wrote:Just show the female moose stopping to ask someone for directions. A male moose wouldn't do that.
That's just TOO FUNNY!!!
MisterBeasley wrote: R. T. POTEET wrote:I stumbled into a female with calf in the backcountry of Yellowstone Park one time and was very thankful that they didn't possess antlers; the son-of-a-gun chased me into a tree and could probably have snagged me had it had antlers.Don't you mean "daughter-of-a-gun," since it was a lady moose?This one, of course, is a "trained" moose:
Jim, did you ever get a good answer to your question? I would think filing off a bull moose's antlers would suffice for your purposes. Now just for fun, here is a pic of two moose calves I met many years ago. Sadly, the female did not survive long.
And here is one of a "friend of mine" from the same time period (long deceased now).
Never had anyone along to take photos of me around wild moose while doing my field work, so these domesticated ones are all I have to share. Have always thought of moose as something created using leftover parts, after all the other creatures had been made. Neat critters, just never mess with a cow.
Rob
Jim--
Wow! We don't have Meeses here in California (at least none that I've ever seen), but now I'm actually surprised to hear that they've migrated down to the Four Corners area. Heading down there this summer--that'll be a real 'blinker' if I run into one (or four or five, LOL!). I always think of them as being 'Northern' critters.
Anyway, cut the antlers off the male and maybe lower the hind legs a little into the scenery? Seems that the females I've seen have a kind of lower 'backside' to them. Could be wrong, of course.
Now, not to be a huge advocate for Natural Selection, but my one query is--in trying to populate the Tahoe National Forest--why doesn't anyone make MOUNTAIN LIONS? I've got enough deer in my forest to turn the bushes into Pasturage, but I can't find an HO Cougar to save my life. C'mon WS and Preiser, BIG CATS NEED REPRESENTATION, TOO!!
End of rant
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Jim,
While looking for some more realistic saguaro cactusses/cacti than those from Plastruct, I stumbled across a company (not in Walthers' repertoire) named Musket Miniatures. If you go to their web site www.musketminiatures.com, in the catalog under "Rustic Rails HO" and "Wild Animals" you find item HOC3855 "Cow moose (2)". From all their other stuff I assume they are made from pewter (unpainted). For the same price ($3.50), you can add a single bull moose.
Hope this helps...
JW
[C'mon WS and Preiser, BIG CATS NEED REPRESENTATION, TOO!!]
And here I thought you HO folks had EVERYTHING available by now. Hmmm, wonder if there is some small HO critter you could file down into a reasonable facsimile of a large puma and then add a long wire tail to it? Being an N scaler myself and with less than great eye sight, I'll have to wait for someone else to create them.
twhite wrote: ...I can't find an HO Cougar to save my life...Tom
...I can't find an HO Cougar to save my life...
How about these? You may have to weather them slightly.
http://www.cchobbies.com/hoscale/figures/fightm/htmphotos/590-10258.jpg
Chris
twhite wrote: Now, not to be a huge advocate for Natural Selection, but my one query is--in trying to populate the Tahoe National Forest--why doesn't anyone make MOUNTAIN LIONS? I've got enough deer in my forest to turn the bushes into Pasturage, but I can't find an HO Cougar to save my life. C'mon WS and Preiser, BIG CATS NEED REPRESENTATION, TOO!! Tom
Those American lions do their best to be unseen, although they are getting bolder now that they aren't being hunted. (I was fortunate to see one south of Mono Lake, CA about a mile from the former sawmill served by the Bodie & Benton RR.) Perhaps you might create the suggestion of one by just modeling the tail sticking out from the bushes.
When driving in moose country, be watchful. Hitting a deer will take out a headlight, fender or radiator. A moose, though, is much taller, and its center of gravity is much higher. So, even if you're driving a big SUV, a head-on with one of these guys is going to put a moose through your windshield, with frequently disastrous consequences for the occupants of the car.
If moose are indeed making their way further south, then a whole new population needs to be educated about sharing the road with Bullwinkle.
Mark--
You're right about those big cats. But believe it or not, I saw my share when I worked for the Forest Service in the remote high country around Truckee, back in the 1960's. Not up close, understand, but close enough that you could pick them up with binoculars. Back then it was said that they didn't come around humans because they didn't like our smell. But the spookiest thing was to be out at night when they were doing their mating cries. Scariest sound I've ever heard!