coolest animal you have seen in the wild

I've had lots of encounters over the years...been within 50 yards of a mountain lion, within spraying distance of a skunk (didn't get sprayed though WHEW!), listened to wolves howling at night, seen eagles pluck fish out of the water, sat for an hour a couple of summers ago and listened as 5 bull elk bugled to one another, been chasd by a bull moose who though I was trying to steal his girl ( I just wanted a picture).

When I lived in Alaska I had several moose that lived with me during the winter (we plowed all 5 acres of land and they liked to wander around and not have to trudge through the snow). There was a momma with twins calves and when they wanted to cross the road in front of my place she would step up to the pavement, look both ways, and then grunt to let the babies know it was safe to cross. And once while flying we had to stop at a small airstrip to refuel, as we were getting ready to land we saw a grizzly bear with his butt planted on the end of the runway. He was eating some berries that were growing there and he looked up at us as we flew overhead. My FIL got on the radio and said something about "attention all Talkeetna traffic: there is a bear on the runway. I repeat: a bear on the runway" I burst out laughing...that isn't something you'll ever hear more than once in your life!

More recent though was my encounter with Willy, my bull elk in Grand Teton Park. He wanted to camp with me...hung out behind my tent, wandered over to my campfire and then bedded down 15' or so from my tent while I was sleeping...and then proceeded to give my truck a tongue bath the next morning. Hence the name Willy...short for window licker.


Also ran across a momma griz and her 3 cubs this past summer. I was so excited I don't know how I managed to stop the truck, put it in park, roll down the passenger window and grab my camera all within a few seconds. I've never seen cubs in the wild before so I was beside myself to have seen 3!



And mooses....lots and lots of mooses. My record for moose sightings is 14 in one day, got close this summer when I saw nine in one day but I think the record of 14 may stand for a while. The calf was the cutest...he was so energetic and playful...splashing around the pond and making his mom chase after him.

 

Yellowstone?