At sunrise I came upon two bull moose feeding on pond vegetation. They were nearing the end of their morning meal and soon began to retreat into the forest.
Sorry to see them go, I decided to try calling. It was late in rutting season, but I gave my best cow moose-in-heat call and caught the attention of one of them.

For the next hour he slowly worked his way along the eastern shore, staying in the trees and taking his time.
I'd call now and then to keep him interested and eventually he was directly across from my position behind a tree on the western shoreline.

I didn't know what to expect. My hope was to at least bring him out of the trees so I could get a few good shots.

Eventually that's what he did, and more.

After his slow and deliberate amble through the trees he suddenly became all action.
He was in the water and swimming rapidly toward me before I hardly knew it.

I felt exhilarated but also a bit uncertain. What to do now?
I knew I couldn't allow him to come all the way and decided the best course of action was to fess up and spill the beans.
I quickly grabbed what shots I could and when he was halfway across, about 100 feet away, I stepped out from my cover and said "Hey Bud! It's only me."
That stopped him. He looked at me for a few seconds and decided to turn around and swim back.

Last I saw him he was headed off into the forest.
I did offer him something of an apology which he seemed to accept, and thanked him for the photo opp.