MOOSE SIGHTING: The cow moose was seen at times from Highway 3 about 10 miles from Enterprise. (Photo/Vikki Olsen).

By Gary Fletcher

Observer Staff Writer

ENTERPRISE A moose sighting caused the phones to ring at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Enterprise office.

The agency received numerous calls of Friday’s sighting north of Enterprise, and some people took photographs, said ODFW District Biologist Vic Coggins.

The cow moose was seen at times from Highway 3 about 10 miles from Enterprise, Coggins said. He also received a report of an unconfirmed moose sighting Friday on the upper Imnaha River.

In June a cow and bull moose were spotted at the mouth of Temperance Creek, he said.

Coggins said it’s not that uncommon to see moose in Wallowa County. There have been more sightings in recent years as moose populations have expanded in Idaho and Washington, he said.

The ODFW has a moose photo from the 1960s in the Snake River Unit. Coggins said he’s seen a photo of one near Troy on the Grande Ronde River, and there’s been reports of moose in the Wenaha Unit, both north of Enterprise.

Unlike reported wolf sightings, in which there can be confusion between them and large coyotes, moose are so distinct that there’s little chance of them being confused with anything else, Coggins said.

Moose are totally protected in Oregon, he said. They’re classified as a big game animal on which there is no open season in this state.