Would a moose scrape at a house and why?
by Angela Hart
(Ophir, Colorado)
Last night I woke in the middle of the night by my dog barking like crazy. Something was making a lot of noise outside and scraping against my cabin.
I assumed it was a bear and there are bears here. I flipped the porch light on and off and the dog made lots of noise. It eventually went away but returned again a while later.
It was scraping at the base of the cabin door as if trying to get in.
Again it seemed to quiet or leave and returned again. It was tall whatever it was as the porch light would get partially covered at times blocking the light.
In the morning I was stumped.
The wide cabin door is old plywood stained a dark brown. The stain was completely scraped off the door several inches up from the threshold. The rest of the door had places where the stain was scraped off even up six or eight feet.
The cabin exterior walls alongside the door has the same thing.
There were no nail marks though as from a bear paw. We live near Ophir Colorado and both bear and a lone moose are on the property.
Would a moose do this and why?
Very intriguing Angela.
You question reminded me of a story I read a recently entitled "The Moose that Knocked at the Door"
Written by Sir Charles G. D. Roberts (PD) Ladies Home Journal, Dec. 1, 1910
It's a great story where a moose sought shelter and protection from some marauding wolves in mid winter at a farm. The hosts put the seemingly tame moose in the barn with the horses.
Of course there's more to the story but it's not relevant to your question.
Now I'm exactly sure why a moose would be scraping your door except to be rubbing velvet off it's antlers. But it does seem to be a little early for moose to have their velvet starting to become itchy enough they want to rub it off.
That's the only reason however, that I can think of that a moose would come knocking at your door.
Is it possible you can send a picture of your door?