I'm 67. Daddy took me into the woods when I was very very young. I've seen more than most. This was just something that stuck out.
I remember a time when I was camp-fishing with my Dad and a buddy of mine. There was a terrible rain storm that washed out our fishing for the day but as I was walking back to camp after beaching the canoe and securing the gear, I looked down into a spillway between the two lakes we were fishing. The water was clear and I could see Bluegill, very large Bluegill, swimming in the water looking for whatever was washing down.
I told my buddy I was going to fish a while and he should tell my Dad to start cleaning the fish we had. I began pulling these Bluegill out at a rapid pace. My buddy ran up and down the hill to our camp as fast as he could manage, collecting my catch while my Dad cleaned them.
In the middle of all of this frenzy a raccoon popped up on the opposite side of the spillway and saw what was transpiring. He walked across the spillway on a downed tree and stared at me. He was maybe twenty feet away. I said: "Want one of these fish?" Then I caught another one. I pulled it out and took it off the hook. I looked at the coon. He showed great interest so I flipped it to him. It landed only about a foot in front of him. He picked it up and walked away without so much as a Fare Thee Well. I said: "You're welcome!" But I was thinking something else. Coons are cute but never trust them.