Elk

Audra told me about this video, taken last November at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Apparently the fellow recording it was taking pictures of the elk when he saw this buck harassing the photographer. So the cameraman switched his camera to video.

Apparently the elk was used to being fed by visitors and expected to find food in the backpack. This was not the first time he had been aggressive to humans, so he was euthanized. A good reminder to heed the signs

Do not feed the animals.

The fellow being harassed had hoped if he hunkered down the elk wouldn’t consider him to be a threat and would go away. It didn’t work, but at least he protected his vital parts until help came.

I found the following video when I was searching for information about the one above. Apparently the fellow is bow hunting, but that’s all I know — I don’t know if he was even aware of the elk. The quality is poor, but it was too good not to share.

Fortunately the elk on/around our land are still afraid of humans.


 

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14 Responses to Elk

  1. Alan G says:

    I have seen that first video before but not the second one. Thanks for posting. I’m guessing the bow hunter was aware of the elk but using good common sense by not agitating or scaring him because they are very unpredictable and dangerous. I think he was quite fortunate the elk chose to leave.

    • Jean says:

      I watched the ending several times and couldn’t figure out what spooked the elk Maybe something the cameraman did?

  2. Mike says:

    I, too had seen the first video. It’s unfortunate that the elk had to be dealt with because of becoming habituated to humans, but, as a result, he had become more of a danger than he would be otherwise. The second video was interesting. I suspect that the bull elk (wapiti) would have bolted at any time the hunter made a significant move. The hunter was camouflaged and probably scent disguised. The elk knew something was there, but not what.

    The videos reminded me of one I put together of photos and video segments from our last trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in 2011. There is one humorous segment of a frisky young elk in the meadow. http://youtu.be/izA7YAZAnhw

    Even the female elk can be dangerous. In 2009, we saw one chasing a male mule deer! It was in the same area as the video.

    • Jean says:

      Great video! Thanks. The little one running around is cute.

      Andy had a mother elk stamp her foot at him once, but that’s as far as it went. KB has some good pictures of a cow here. She obviously feels safe.

  3. Rummuser says:

    The price of progress. We are having problems of wild elephants, panthers and tigers invading human habitation because their natural habitats are shrinking.

    • bikehikebabe says:

      Haha 😀 Hard to imagine because we only see elephants, panthers, & tigers in zoos.

    • Jean says:

      I once saw a video of the problems farmers were having trying to protect their crops from elephants. I felt sorry for both sides. Because of ivory poachers, there’s a chance wild elephants will be mostly gone in 50 years.

  4. tammyj says:

    man and nature. the animal always loses.
    so sad that such a beautiful creature had to be killed.
    in our wilderness areas where the bison are… you are told to not get out of your cars.
    yet there are FOREVER always people who think the signs do not mean them.
    at one point it even seemed as if the elk was actually playing with him a bit.
    but at any moment… those sharp horns could have made for a tragic result.

    • Jean says:

      I too thought the elk was more gentle in the beginning, but then he got more aggressive with head butting. Not a smooth move.

      We were in a park in East Africa once, and the signs said,

      Don’t feed the elephants. You have been warned.

      It was a good reminder, because there was a small one there that was really cute. It was tempting.

  5. KB says:

    Oh man… I would’ve definitely stood up and tried to scare that elk away. I can’t believe that people feed them. Our elk keep their distance but that’s probably because they’re hunted in our area. My photos are all taken with very long lenses.

    • Jean says:

      I agree, the elk backed off when the fellow stood up. The fellow was assuming he was safer hunkering down, but I think it just encouraged the elk. The interesting thing was the cameraman and the people in the car didn’t help the fellow by scaring the elk.

      My favorite elk story is a woman I knew who went hiking with her dog — she felt safe knowing the dog was there to protect her. Yeah. Sure. Unfortunately, the dog wasn’t as well trained as yours — it started chasing the elk, and one of them turned and charged. The dog came running back and hid behind the woman. Fortunately the elk let it go when he saw her.

    • bikehikebabe says:

      At “our land” to use Jean’s name, Kendall’s dog chased a baby elk who ran into the barbed wire fence & cut his lip. I held the dog while Tom went to the car to fix the lip, baby elk following him. I looked UP & mama elk was standing by me, both horrified. I never realized how big elk are.
      They left together & joined the elk group at the edge of the forest.

    • bikehikebabe says:

      Also this same dog was herding steer (that were eating OUR grass). The one in back turned & started to charge. Dog ran behind me. I had a big stick.

      Reminded me of little Lydia teasing a big boy at the ice rink & then skating behind me when he went after her. 😀 He thought it was funny too.

  6. Cathy in NZ says:

    I have seen first video as well…interesting how people “think the notices do not apply to them” – then they wonder why something bad happens…

    Of course, we don’t have elk roaming around up here, although I believe their are wapiti in the South Island high places/wilderness…

    As for tigers and elephants, they are on the zoos…but I think that animals coming into populated areas are getting more common and therefore their breeds are dying out, due to shooting of said animals…

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