Wildlife— April 2025 Photo Contest

[Christian Sommer]

April has landed,

Spring is officially here, so to celebrate we are having a forum-wide photo contest! Our theme this month is “Wildlife.” Has a seal joined you for a cruise? Maybe you saw a whale off the coast? Submit your best wildlife photo taken while underway!

To enter the contest, reply to this post with your photo, boat model, and a description about what's going on to accompany it. One photo/entry per user. The Photo Contest will be open until 8:00 AM PST on 4/21/2025. After all the submissions have been collected, factory personnel will vote on the winner.

One winner for each brand will be selected (Ranger Tugs, Cutwater, or Solara) and will win a pair of branded jackets and get their winning photo proudly displayed on he Tugnuts homepage and Fluid Motion social media accounts!

Please Note:
This thread is for contest submissions only; replies which do not submit a picture for the contest will be moderated and promptly deleted. Once voting has started, you are not allowed to edit your entry.

 

[TristenT]

Watching humpback whales bubble feed off the north gulf coast of Alaska while jigging for black rock fish and ling cod from our 2013 c28.

 

[Autigr]

April has landed,

Spring is officially here, so to celebrate we are having a forum-wide photo contest! Our theme this month is “Wildlife.” Has a seal joined you for a cruise? Maybe you saw a whale off the coast? Submit your best wildlife photo taken while underway!

To enter the contest, reply to this post with your photo, boat model, and a description about what's going on to accompany it. One photo/entry per user. The Photo Contest will be open until 8:00 AM PST on 4/21/2025. After all the submissions have been collected, factory personnel will vote on the winner.

One winner for each brand will be selected (Ranger Tugs, Cutwater, or Solara) and will win a pair of branded jackets and get their winning photo proudly displayed on he Tugnuts homepage and Fluid Motion social media accounts!

Please Note:
This thread is for contest submissions only; replies which do not submit a picture for the contest will be moderated and promptly deleted. Once voting has started, you are not allowed to edit your entry.

I was enjoying some music and a beach fire one evening on Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho when this guy wandered up looking for a marshmallow or two. Ranger R-27OB.

 

[bob daily]

This cute critter was making himself home between the chicken coop, my R-21 and the cat food in the barn. He was relocated to the boat launch area with a nature preserve, it was raining when I released him so to keep him dry I placed him in the port-a-potty. I’m sure someone else has a good story about it!

 

[Fishmagnet]

Isle Royal National Park moose research station. Decades of Moose skulls collected along with an occasional Whitetail and Caribou that washes ashore.

 

[Red Raven]

Red Raven’s (2014 R27 Classic) close encounter with a humpback in Chatham Strait, SE Alaska in 2019. Photo taken from our partner boat.

 

[scross]

Wow, probably hardest choice of photos to submit yet. Hard to choose between my photos of whales off Powell River, big antlered deer on Newcastle Island and Stuart Island, otters at Secret Cove, bears in the Broughtons, the red squirrels at John Henry’s in Pender Harbor, rescuing an endangered snake off the road at Montague Harbor, seals sleeping on navigation buoys just outside Gorge Harbor, swans at Ganges Marina, bald eagles everywhere, massive balls of caterpillars on Sucia, great gatherings of moon jellyfish at Von Donop Inlet and Todd Inlet, giant red jellyfish at Goat Island or a simple photo of a Great Blue Heron late in the afternoon at Port Ludlow. The heron won!

 

[Mastercraft]

Canada goose on the back of Ranger Tug R29 at Kenmore Air seaplane company in Kenmore Washington

 

[RichBirk]

April has landed,

Spring is officially here, so to celebrate we are having a forum-wide photo contest! Our theme this month is “Wildlife.” Has a seal joined you for a cruise? Maybe you saw a whale off the coast? Submit your best wildlife photo taken while underway!

To enter the contest, reply to this post with your photo, boat model, and a description about what's going on to accompany it. One photo/entry per user. The Photo Contest will be open until 8:00 AM PST on 4/21/2025. After all the submissions have been collected, factory personnel will vote on the winner.

One winner for each brand will be selected (Ranger Tugs, Cutwater, or Solara) and will win a pair of branded jackets and get their winning photo proudly displayed on he Tugnuts homepage and Fluid Motion social media accounts!

Please Note:
This thread is for contest submissions only; replies which do not submit a picture for the contest will be moderated and promptly deleted. Once voting has started, you are not allowed to edit your entry.

Cruising up Phillips Arm - west of Stuart Island BC - we spotted a brown spot on the sedges - Cruising over, this enormous boar Grizzly was grazing. We had heard by a local, that a grizzly had killed a couple cubs and then the mother on this beach recently, so thought we would see if we could find him. He grazed for a while - not looking at us as we drifted just off shore, then walked into the water and took a drink. Then he looked up and stared at us with his beady eyes. He laid down in the water to cool off, walked out of the water, pooped, and laid down with his rear toward us. Obviously knowing he was master of this beach. We came back an hour later to see if he was still there. He was and still sleeping. Rich and Nancy Birkemeier, AVELLANA, 2019 R29CB

 

[eagerkr]

We were at anchor off Cutt’s Island (locally known as Deadman’s) in our new-to-us 2017 C242 Coupe in 2022. Our pup Murphy wanted to go to shore for potty and play, but the seals were enjoying a lazy morning on the beach. We waited for them to move on and Murphy got his wish.



Gear: Nikon D500 and Nikon 200-500 f5.6

 

[Sam Bisset]

I'm not submitting these to win a prize but I have to share these screenshots from a video I took. Have any of you seen these ragworms or pile worms swimming when you have your underwater lights on at night? I've seen them at Roche Harbor several times, they're wild!

 

[Trisailor]

Breakfast companion, while waiting for the Port Mayaca lock to open. About 12 feet long. Had another on the opposite side of the boat, just swimming around.

 

[Salish Serenity]

This mated pair was as cozy as they could be on the bimini of this R27 that was behind our R41 at the Daffodil Festival.
​

 

[Eddyprice]

While boating with our Cutwater C24 in the Sea of Cortez a large pod of dolphins came to play in our bow waves. This amazing experience continued for about half an hour. I hope everyone can enjoy encounters like this at some point during their boating adventures!

 

[William Sanborn]

Cruising the Columbia River North of the I-90 Bridge at Vantage, WA. spotted a Bachelor Herd of Big Horn Sheep on the rock outcrops. (Look for the white Rumps) 2011 Ranger Tug 27.

Bill Sanborn