Ask any Minnesotan about their most memorable wildlife sighting, and you're likely to get some amazing stories and perhaps a few tall tales—maybe even a grainy image that purports to show the wild thing in question. But high-quality wildlife photos are much harder to come by—unless you're like the nature photographers whose work is featured here.

Yes, these shooters were in the right place at the right time. But they put themselves there strategically, with the technical ability and equipment to capture the magical millisecond that made a first-rate photograph. From moose to a marten, ducks to a dragonfly, these images conjure the living, pulsing presence of wildlife in Minnesota.