Of Moose and Men

I now have the front cover for my new book to share with everyone. It is due out in the spring – probably May 1.

You might ask how I got this picture. The story is told in full in the book, but here is a summary. The animal had been immobilized (obviously) and in order to get accurate data I had designed a sling made of old webbing material that had once been used to make visual i.d. collars for moose. We borrowed a scale from the vet college and using this technique we were able to gather data on weights of over 40 moose and tabulate them according to sex and age. Using a variety of body measurements we were able to get reasonably accurate data that would give others, who lacked a scale, a good indication of the weight of the moose by simply measuring head length, spinal length, heart girth and so on. From those data they could use an equation we developed to give a reasonable estimate of the animal’s weight.

Another way of viewing this is to link to my Youtube video. This was shot in the snow, and the book cover was not set at that time, so I selected a dramtic one that was unforunately too grainy to use in print as it came from a Super 8 footage clip.Here is the link.