I was heading back down the Gunflint Trail from a full day of guiding on Lake Saganaga, or Big Sag as the locals refer to it. I had a young couple from the Cities who were excited about the cooler of fresh walleyes, bass, and lake trout collected from the rootbeer-stained water of Sag. But they both hoped to end their day laying eyes on their first moose.

Somedays I would get lucky and a cow or calf would linger in the moose pond adjacent to the guides' landing on the Sag corridor. Always a welcome addition to the experience, a moose sighting sat atop many visitors list. Most of the time, a...