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Jason House has harvested 23 bull moose during his 33 years as a hunter, with several of those animals sporting quite impressive headgear \u2014 and all taken by bow.<\/p>\n
The 52-year-old from Daniel\u2019s Harbour on Newfoundland\u2019s Northern Peninsula comes from a long line of avid big game hunters. He hunts bulls and only bulls, even when in possession of an either-sex licence, as he was earlier this season in Harbour Deep, Moose Management Area 3, where he arrowed what he thought was a respectable seven-pointer.<\/p>\n
Imagine his surprise though, when he turned the animal on its back and part-way through the paunching process discovered \u201cit had no male parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
House was working from the neck down with his knife when he noticed the animal\u2019s nipples were quite long.<\/p>\n
He glanced back at the antlers that were shedding velvet, \u201cand I said, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ Then I noticed that his other stuff was missing. I said to my son, Colby, ‘Look at this,’ and he said, \u2018Wow, it\u2019s a cow!’\u201d<\/p>\n
Sightings ‘extremely rare’<\/p>\n
The first question that comes to mind, of course, is just how unusual is this.<\/p>\n
It was put to the province\u2019s Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Lands.<\/p>\n
\u201cSightings of this nature are extremely rare,\u201d said a department official, adding, \u201cSince 2004 there has only been one recorded observation of what appeared to be a female moose with antlers in the province.\u201d<\/p>\n
As to what may have happened, the official noted biologists in both the department and in other jurisdictions have studied the phenomenon and raise two possible causes.<\/p>\n
\u201cRare endocrine disorder, ovarian dysfunction, or elevated testosterone may cause a female moose to grow small, sometimes misshapen antlers that may retain their velvet,\u201d said the official.<\/p>\n
\u201cOccasionally, due to accident, a male moose may be castrated but still grow antlers. These antlers may grow normally or may be deformed or misshapen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The department hasn\u2019t received an official report of this moose, so biologists have yet to examine the animal. The Wildlife Division says it welcomes reports from residents or hunters who have observed similar situations and encourages them to share information by emailing WildlifeSightings@gov.nl.ca.<\/p>\n
At just over 100 pounds per quarter, this moose wasn\u2019t the largest of House\u2019s career by any means, but it was \u201ccertainly the most interesting,\u201d he chuckled.<\/p>\n
Besides its antlers, what led him to believe all along that it was a bull, \u201cwas that it came for the calls and tree scraping.\u201d<\/p>\n
They had seen and were trying to close the ground on five animals far in the distance one evening, but as darkness was closing in, the animals disappeared into the forest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spotted him\/her around six the next morning and we got to her around seven \u2026She slowly worked toward us as we scraped and made a few calls, but in the meantime, a small bull and a cow came in pretty fast from up over a ridge.”<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t shoot cows,\u201d House said. \u201cI have nothing against people taking cows and I even hunt with people who do. It\u2019s just my personal preference. The cow\/bull that I did get kinda had us fooled though.\u201d<\/p>\n
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