Moose on the Loose Near Berthold - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Moose on the Loose Near Berthold

Drivers along Highway Two near Berthold today got a treat

a bull moose was wandering in a harvested field just south of the highway.

The moose slowly made his way across the field - first looking like he wanted to cross the highway and then reconsidering and meandering off into a sunflower field.

Biologist Bill Jensen with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department says there are relatively good numbers of moose in our part of the state - although he says it's still quite rare to see them.

He says the state issues about 150 hunting permits per year for moose - a number that seems to work well at keeping the population steady at between 500 and one thousand of the animals in the state.

Jensen says the state only started approving moose hunting seasons 25 years ago after moose began moving into the state from Minnesota and Manitoba.

He says although moose have declined in population in wooded areas such as the Pembina Hills and Turtle Mountains, they seem to be thriving in the prairie pothole region of the state.