I thought I saw “Chessie”, the creature that lives in the Chesapeake Bay. I was living right on the water at the time and was out early on a quiet and still morning. Then I saw a tall neck sticking out of the water and moving across a small inlet. I watched it intensely for several minutes until it reached the opposite shore. All of a sudden a huge body climbed out of the water and shook itself off. The female deer then bounded off into the woods. I couldn’t tell what it was when it was in the water but it did look unusual.
You could have shot it and made it into jerky and saved some other lakewatcher the trouble of wondering what it was if it was seen again in the water.
Just being practical -and thinking with my stomach.