I’ve been fishing Santa Rosa Island for a very long time, and naturally I have favorite memories. Here is a revered memory.

I felt like I was watching a western movie … sitting and watching hundreds of head of cattle being herded together and driven skillfully by cowboys through a saddle between two round-top hillocks.

But in this case, I had a fishing pole in my hand because we were anchored just off the beach in Bechers Bay at the east end of Santa Rosa Island.

I smiled, thinking I could easily become accustomed to watching westerns while holding a baited fishing rod and waiting for a fish. What a concept!

My son Dave, in his early teenage years at the time, had paddled his board to the beach and was standing on an isolated stretch of sand just taking in the soul-filling scenery. The beach was about 12 yards wide, backed by a 15-foot cliff up to a gently sloping hill.

About that time a hefty halibut came along and took my concentration for awhile. (That in itself was another success story.)

When I looked back to the beach, I was in for a surprise, and so was my son, though he didn’t quite yet know it.

A huge bull elk (think of a deer nearly the size of a horse, with broad, four-foot antlers) had come over the hill and grazed down near the edge of the cliff behind the beach.

Dave and that elk couldn’t see each other because of the lip of the cliff, nor could they hear one another because both were being very quiet, but they were only about 30 feet apart.

I waved at Dave and pointed to the cliff above him. I knew he wouldn’t hear me if I yelled, due to the symphony of the surf, and I didn’t want to risk spooking the elk, so I just kept waving and pointing.

Dave figured out that I was pointing up above him, so he stepped away from the cliff, turned and looked up.

At the same exact moment, the big elk raised its head and look over the cliff. Dave and the elk spotted each other simultaneously, and only 30 feet apart.

They both reacted identically by jumping about three feet in the air and bolting in opposite directions.

The elk cleared the hill and Dave cleared the surf zone, all within about five seconds. Both wore the same startled look on their faces.

Me … I sat on the boat and laughed until my sides hurt.