It’s the classic Wyoming wildlife photographer’s dilemma — how to share the state’s special places and amazing creatures with the world without those places getting overrun by people and the animals driven away.
Photographer Deb Richardson of Star Valley knows of one such place and is facing that dilemma. She fell in love with a spot in the general vicinity of Grand Teton National Park that during November and December draws huge bull moose by the dozen.
One of the regulars is Wyoming’s best-known moose, a gigantic bull called Hoback.
Fear Of Discovery
The moose magnet is known mostly only to locals around Kelly, Wyoming, and others in the inner circles of wildlife photography.
But Richardson, who spent six weeks in a camper there last year and hopes to return in December, doesn’t like what she’s been hearing through the grapevine.
“I’m hearing that there are more people out there so far this year, and fewer moose,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
That’s caused her some angst, because as part of her photography business, she’s posted attention-grabbing photos of the moose on social media.
She’s never disclosed the spot’s exact location, but is worried that if enough people figure out where it is, gobs of gawkers might start showing up, and the moose will stop coming.
On the positive side, Richardson wonders if some of people showing up at the moose magnet are the next generation of aspiring photographers; people who will treat the area and moose with respect.
“Maybe this is just fresh, new blood coming in,” she said.
‘Ramland’ For Bull Moose
It’s fair to say that place somewhere near Kelly is the bull moose version of “Ramland Wyoming.”
Ramland is a spot near Lander that has a legendary reputation as a gathering place for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep rams to bash heads. But locals and other insiders are skittish about giving away its exact location — again, for fear of it being overrun.
It would likewise be a shame if Kelly’s moose magnet were “discovered” and became crowded, Richardson said.
She’s not exactly sure why moose, almost exclusively bulls, start to pour into a sage meadow there as winter begins.
But they do. It’s not unusual to see 20 or more bulls gathered there. One day last year, Richardson said she counted 50 of them in the meadow.
Packing On The Pounds
Richardson thinks the moose are drawn by the abundance of rich forage in the meadow and water from a creek that flows through the area.
Unlike bears, moose don’t hibernate during the winter. But like grizzlies do, moose must pack on fat to get through the winter.
So, it could be the moose discovered a spot that’s a great place to go pack on some pounds.
“It only happens that one time a year. They come into that one area, that one sage field,” Richardson said. “They are concentrating on eating and fatting up before winter.”
Bull moose fight, sometimes viciously, for access to females during the rut, or mating season.
The rut is all but over by the time the gorge-fest gathering, she said.
That doesn’t stop the bulls from engaging in some friendlier practice sparring. She recalled hunkering down in the creek bed one day and getting a surprise.
“I ended up with 22 bull moose coming into that creek with me and sparring,” Richardson said. “I got some great shots, but trying to get out of there was tricky.”
Bull moose engage in playful sparring in a creek at a popular winter gathering spot for moose near Wyoming’s Grand Tetons. (Courtesy D. Greiner-Richardson Photography) 
Wildlife Photographer Deb Richardson of Star Valley loves a place near Wyoming’s Grand Tetons that draws gobs of bull moose during November and December, but she’s worried the spot might have been “discovered” and will start drawing human crowds too. (Courtesy D. Greiner-Richardson Photography) 
Wildlife Photographer Deb Richardson of Star Valley loves a place near Wyoming’s Grand Tetons that draws gobs of bull moose during November and December, but she’s worried the spot might have been “discovered” and will start drawing human crowds too. (Courtesy D. Greiner-Richardson Photography) 
While the angle of this photos makes it look as if this bull moose is in the back of a pickup truck near Wyoming’s Grand Tetons. The moose was actually licking road salt off the side of the vehicle. (Courtesy D. Greiner-Richardson Photography)
Pickup Becomes A Moose Lollipop
One of Richardson’s photos that created a buzz when she posted it on social media appears to show a bull moose standing in the back of a pickup.
The moose wasn’t actually in the pickup; the angle the photo was taken from just made it look that way, she said.
The story behind the photo is that one day, some of the bulls started to take a keen interest in a small cluster of parked vehicles, Richardson said.
It turns out, they were drawn in because the vehicles had road salt on them. The moose walked right up and started licking the salt off.
“That must have gone on for an hour, people were getting their cars washed by moose,” she said.
Not long after she took the photo of the bull next to the pickup, a bigger bull came, chased him off and took over licking the side of the vehicle.
“And of course, one of his antlers went down the side of the truck and left a huge scratch,” she said.
Respecting Bulls’ Space
For the most part, those who gather to admire and photograph moose respect the bulls’ space.
That’s important, because a cranky moose can “kill you in seconds,” Richardson said.
She recalled one less-experienced visitor from Colorado pushing into Hoback’s private space and getting charged.
On another occasion a photographer had to scram when a bull came too close, but left a camera behind.
“I got a photo of a bull practically putting his eyeball up to the camera,” she said.
As the bull backed away, the camera strap got caught on one of his antlers, causing him to panic.
“He swung that thing around for two or three minutes with that strap stuck on his antler, and it finally flew off,” she said.
Then the bull walked up to the camera and stomped it, she added.
Richardson said she stays at least 25 yards away from the bulls, the distance recommended by the National Park Service.
But she was charged once by Hoback, starting from about 75 yards away.
“People talk about that experience of your life flashing before your eyes, I experienced that,” she said.
But Hoback stopped about 15 feet short and then went on his way.
Despite that close call, and the chronic pain she suffers from health challenges, Richardson’s not about to give up photography.
Along with the bull moose, she loves the area’s grizzly bears, particularly Grand Teton’s famous Grizzly 610.
Wildlife photography “became my drive and my passion to get out of bed in the morning. I live with a lot of pain,” she said. “It was my only outlet to keep me from being focused on that pain.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
