But Selden West was about to see something rare — a bull moose — and for a brief moment, she was blind to those yellow, orange and red leaves behind the wall of evergreen trees on her property.

“It was at 8:30 Sunday morning,” West wrote in an email. “I was just coming out of my barn after finishing barn chores, having brought in the cows (away from flies) and turned out the sheep. I was planning to mow in the back field so I had turned off the electric fence and opened a gate. As I finally left the barn, I looked up and saw the moose. I was thrilled. I am always excited by unexpected glimpses of wildlife.

West hardly ever carries a phone with her.

“I only had a phone that day to take the pic because I was listening to a book on tape on the weekend,” she wrote. “Normally I never have a phone because I’m in the classroom all day.”

This time, with a “very old cell phone,” she snapped a digital image of New York state’s biggest mammal. Bull moose can weigh between 600 and 1,200 pounds and stand 6 feet tall at the shoulder.

“The moose did not appear to notice me,” West wrote. “He moved slowly and majestically, like a ship passing. Bull moose in rutting season are something I avoid, however, so I didn’t try to go closer on foot (and my husband was away in the car). I was the only one home.”

It’s rutting season for moose. Put simply, it’s when they breed. The rut occurs in late September and October, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation website. It’s when bulls compete for cows “by sparring with each other, with older, larger bulls usually doing most of the breeding.” One bull can breed with five or six cows during this time of year.

West, who teaches history at North Country School, and her husband, recently retired NCS Head of School David Hochschartner, have 22 acres of land in Cascadeville, off state Route 73 near the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg. State land is on two sides of the property.

“I have cows, sheep, chickens, one elderly goose, and a barn cat,” West wrote. “On pastures we mostly see coyotes, and those regularly, but also deer and have had bears in our apple tree.”

But a moose? Nope. She’s never seen a moose on her property before.

“I have seen moose tracks on the trails at Van Ho,” she wrote. “About fifteen years ago, a friend of ours hit a bull moose (more accurately, was hit by a bull moose) just up the road, on 73 between our farm and Cascade Ski Center. Her car was totaled and she was lucky to escape with her life. That year there were several moose around this neighborhood.”

West’s moose just sauntered across her property, heading toward the Grays’ property next door. Later, most of the clouds gave way to sunshine, giving residents and visitors across the region more opportunities to see the peak foliage and make lasting memories before winter arrives. But West was too busy for leaf peeping along the Adirondack highways. She doesn’t need to go far, anyway, to see the foliage.

“I work outdoors all weekend and most afternoons on the farm … and rarely have time to do much else,” she wrote. “However, the farm is surrounded by views of Street, Nye, the Dogbone Hill at MVH, Pitchoff, and Cascade, so I have gorgeous leaves everywhere I look! It is stunning in the sunshine.”

For West, Sunday wasn’t about the leaves. It was about that bull moose — a memory that will last a lifetime.