As a relatively short-time Sandisfield resident I’ve been anticipating such a moment as this since capturing an occasional solitary moose on my trail-cams over the past couple of years. Seeing one with my own two eyes seemed to be a goal that would ultimately be met and would likely come as a complete surprise.

    The photo of the three together was taken Friday, May 24, 2024 at 6:30 a.m..

    We had been up for a while when our never-miss-a-thing pup began barking at the back, French-door window . It was similar to her bear-bark but maybe a little more excited.

    My wife, Kathy, was in the kitchen, also facing the backyard . She quickly spotted the female and her offspring and announced “moose, two of them!” followed quickly by “there are three of them!”

    By then, I was already striding toward the door with my phone in hand and the camera on.

    My first impression was that they were horses, some 200 feet away and a bit difficult to discern in the early light. But zooming in and seeing those unmistakable profiles come into focus left no doubt.

    Click, click, set the exposure and click again, hoping to capture even a rudimentary image through the window, of the indelible, fleeting, unlikely, wonderful reality unfolding before me. And they just stood still . . . as if posed, possibly focused on the excited, still-barking pup, and challenging me to mess up the picture. Sometimes we just get lucky.