Scratch marks on trees but no moose

[Oedipus's Stepdad]

I'm in Mystery Lake in the cabin north of the unnamed pond and saw a lot of trees with moose-made scratch marks. However I can't find the moose anywhere. Is that intended or am I not looking hard enough?

[mark]

Intended. They come and go. It means that that is the correct location on that region for a moose, but you don't know when it's going to be there.

Note, it won't 'appear' while you're stood there waiting. I did once have one 'appear' just a few yards away while I was harvesting some other carcass, which got me cracked ribs.

[Gun Tech.]

What mark said, with the clarification that zero moose marks are showing on day 1. I.e. you may pass through moose spawning grounds without seeing marks on the trees.

They will appear max ~200 yards from the nearest scratched trees, in the meaning that if moose are up, they're nearby and you will quickly spot them.

I think the best way to hunt them is to note NEW marks (or any marks before day 50, same thing) in your Journal as spots to revisit at intervals of 4-5 days if you can. And to kill them if you see one before they disappear, they're few and far between. IME they stay up for ~5 days and then disappear.