Head to Head With an Elk

After watching that a second time I am convinced that he used up a few "get home free" cards on that encounter. He was smart enough to not grab and hold those antlers as they were jostling him, which could have spelled disaster. Mike

stovepipemike wrote:After watching that a second time I am convinced that he used up a few "get home free" cards on that encounter. He was smart enough to not grab and hold those antlers as they were jostling him, which could have spelled disaster. Mike

Not to be argumentative , but he did three times. At 3:38 is when it escalated.

He gottem some big ones!!!!!

You are correct, he did grab them but he did not hold and try to show dominance is what I meant to say. Mike

Can't say for sure, but over the years, I believe I've driven smarter fence posts.
Jim

Well, he has one hell of a story to tell. I was thinking how he kept dropping his head down, kinda egging on the Elk, that's what Elk do when they want to fight?

grumpy wrote:Well, he has one hell of a story to tell. I was thinking how he kept dropping his head down, kinda egging on the Elk, that's what Elk do when they want to fight?

If that was a question, the answer is yes.
The young bucks spar with each other to boost their fighting skills. When they are older, they will fight for the right to breed. Sometimes to the death.

It's mother natures way of seeing that the strongest survive and reproduce.

What caused the aggression that I spoke of at 3:38, the guy grabbed the bucks antler and pushed the buck, twisting the bucks head. Before that though, if you watch closely, you can see him blowing into the bucks nose. Do that to a dog and it snaps at your face. Was just more aggression by the photographer.

In that case he's lucky to be alive..

Yes he is.

grumpy wrote:Well, he has one hell of a story to tell. I was thinking how he kept dropping his head down, kinda egging on the Elk, that's what Elk do when they want to fight?

It's more like Don said. Young animals test each other, just as you and I did wrestling other kids when we were 9 or 10 or even earlier. Young goats will play butt almost all day. Years ago it was considered hilarious for someone to be butted by a billy goat and was the subject of many early cartoons. A friend had a pet goat who followed him everywhere. Dogs soon learned to not harass her. She could run faster and bowl them over.

By remaining seated he was much less of a threat. Once he stood up that ended the game. Like others have pointed out, it could have been a lot more serious with a more mature animal in breeding season. People have been seriously injured by deer.

This explains it:

It took almost 6mins before someone drove up to help. Everyone else stood by and recorded. What else could he have done once the elk got closer than he probably thought it would get?

Flyer5 wrote:It took almost 6mins before someone drove up to help. Everyone else stood by and recorded. What else could he have done once the elk got closer than he probably thought it would get?

There is the problem. He allowed ( IE: set up the encounter) the buck to get that close. IMHO, he should have taken photos from his car.

SWPaDon wrote:

Flyer5 wrote:It took almost 6mins before someone drove up to help. Everyone else stood by and recorded. What else could he have done once the elk got closer than he probably thought it would get?

There is the problem. He allowed ( IE: set up the encounter) the buck to get that close. IMHO, he should have taken photos from his car.

His life his risks. If photography is his livelihood he needs to get the shot. I have seen people take much more risk for a lot less reward.