A neighbor of our ours stop by our place the other day for a visit and told us a story of what happened a few weeks prior. This is at our cabin in Northern Az, unit 5A for those familiar with the area.
It was +/- 2:00pm Monday afternoon, he was out chain sawing some fallen trees for the fireplace. Said he'd been working at it for about 30 minutes and had enough for this trip. While standing in front of his truck he looked around the to see if there were any simple cuts to make before shutting it down.
Standing there with his chain saw in hand still running he happens to glance over to an area he hadn't worked when he notices a set of antlers on the ground, a big set. Said he couldn't believe he didn't see them the whole time he was there. He turns a little to make sure of what he's looking at when this bull elk stands up.
Said it was about 30 yards away and figured it was going to turn and run. It ran all right, right at him. In a flash the elk was on him and had speared him in the chest with its antlers pinning him right up against the front of his truck thrashing him some then bolted. Got him right below the shoulder's inches away from his armpits, said it was over before it started type of thing.
Besides being our friend and neighbor he's also the lead paramedic for our little village. Didn't take too long to get his wits back about him but still in shock of what just happened. Now he starts assessing the situation. He's alone, been impelled, some bleeding but still functionable. He's off work but knows his crew is on duty. Got to his cell and was able to let them know where he was and what happened. Got to him fairly quick for the area, triaged him and off to the hospital.
So the questions are: Why did the elk charge him? Why was an elk bedded down at 2:00 in the afternoon? Still mad about losing his cows to another elk? Was it rabid? Was the elk a democrat... oops, sorry ML. Like I said, looking for your thoughts.
Was back in my DH trailbuilding days.
Early one very foggy morning, rake in hand, hiking up a trail to do a bit of maintenance where I'd left a mattock the night before. Wasn't paying a lot of attention, when I came less that 20' from a big ass bull whitetail.
Just standing his ground on the trail.
He wasn't budging.
Stood there frozen, amazed at how close I was. About a minute went by, he pawed the ground, let out a roaring snort and took off. It was then that I realized that I could have easily been killed by him.
A leaf rake vs. a full rack.
Yeah, he'd have won.
Damn, your buddy though !!!
That's some nightmare shit right there.
If they are like deer they usually sleep mid day right?
Surprised he stayed there the whole time he was working.
Driving up would be enough, I'd think.
Typically, but it's rutting season right now.
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Exactly what we thought. And why it's so baffling. Also, why he was tested for rabies.
Let me guess up on Windmill trail?
We were at the beach a couple months ago and the elk were everywhere. Got to see a bull try to break the window of a car, I assume he must have seen his reflection in the window or something. My SIL was outside filming them when the ‘alpha bull’ came up the street. I told her to back up and get in the house a few times and she kept saying ‘But it’s so cute’. I had to actually go and physically drag her inside. After she saw him attack the car, she finally understood why.
The coolest picture we got was a shot of a cow eating at the buffet of produce outside of the local grocery store.
Maybe he had some other issue, it's very strange.
I assumed rabies was only transmitted via bite.
If the rut is on in that area ( our whitetail rut is a few weeks away) they will get extremely stupid ,their hormones basically call the shots ,their main focus right now is to either fight or f^ck. Ive never hunted elk . Hearing from those who have ,getting too close are in serious danger of getting charged.
Just past the beginning of snakerock.
Terry and I regularly saw a female bobcat on that section of trail. Saw the male only once.
Sucks that the windmill trail met its demise. That had some rippin' high speed sections.
Its the rut is my guess.
Like somebody else said he either wants to fuck or fight...or rest till an opportunity presents itself.
Moose are supposed to be really dangerous during the rut no?
Bull elk are crazy right now. This is just about every day in my yard.
I don't know why, but I was expecting to read he cut it up like Scarface. 😄
They’re looking for Kenny’s carrot-ladened jello…
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