7 Ponds, 1 Moose, A Great Day!

As I was driving south on route 116, en route to Long Pond, I noticed this young bull moose standing just off the left side of the road on the edge of a very wet and muddy portion of the forest. I grabbed my camera, which had my 60mm lens on it, and I walked gently down the road, across from the moose, stopping and snapping photos every few feet. When I reached a point directly across from it started paying more attention to me. I stepped a few feet into the road and examined the awkward-looking, yet beautiful creature. It seemed young and somewhat small (for a moose!), reaching just over my head (I am 6'2), including its small fuzzy antlers. After a minute or two, it started

walking along the road, then it looked at me and began ambling directly toward me. I was surprised, and backed up slowly, and then faster as it started to take bigger steps, I attempted to snap a few photos as I moved back toward the car, most of which ended up blurry (see photo just above). I figured that it must have simply been curious, and since it was not rutting season I was not too worried. It came to within about five or six feet as it sauntered off into a well-worn animal trail, which I realized I had been blocking as I was backing up.
It looks like the moose may have large tics or piles of tics on it's coat (see side view below).

Today I collected samples from seven ponds/lakes: Forest Lake, Burns Pond, Clark Pond, Martin Meadow Pond, Blood Pond, Mirror Lake (not the HBEF one), and Long Pond. With the exception of Long Pond, all of the ponds were in the Whitefield/Lancaster area of New Hampshire. I used a tool I have for sampling, a very small inflatable raft, which I am able to hike to ponds with. It is especially useful for ponds which I would rather not wade too far into, or at all, such as ones full of leeches.
Clark Pond (below) was especially beautiful and calm in the morning, I could have spent all day exploring the area.