I have two very cool encounters with wildlife. The first was fly fishing for brookies on the Little Isabella River in northeast Minnesota. I hit a really deep pool, so I walked up onto the bank and started to pick my way around the pool. I stepped over a downed tree, and much to my surprise just about stepped on a cow moose with a calf that were bedded down. I tripped over the log trying to back my way out, only to look up and see the moose looking down at me. I crawled on my back into the river.

The second was in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and we were fishing for Northern Pike. We heard something above us, looking into the sky we could see what looked like two dots, several hundred feet up. We watched, and the dots kept getting bigger. eventually we could see that it was a pair bald eagle with there wings tucked close to their bodies, doing an all out dive. When they got about 40 feet above our canoe they outstretched their wings and swooped between the bow paddler and myself about 15 feet in the air. Absolutely amazing!