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Elk chases Grand Teton National Park tourist who got too close


dinneR

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The bull elk was standing in the rain, grazing, when Adam Collins pulled into the parking lot Friday to see the Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Grand Teton National Park.

The 44-year-old visitor from Glen Ellyn, Illinois, stopped the car, and got out to take a few photos, making sure to keep his distance as the elk moved toward the Teton Park road. But other people didn’t, including one man who went out on the road, started taking pictures and inching closer and closer to the elk. As Collins watched, that man got within 10 feet of the hoofed and horned ungulate. That’s when the elk appeared to decide it wasn’t having it.

“He kneeled down on one knee to take a picture and the elk turned, reared up and started charging him,” Collins said.

The man split, running backwards through a grove of four trees to avoid getting gored. The elk got within 5 feet of the man, Collins said, but his decision to run through the trees turned out to be a good one. The elk stopped on one side. The man kept running.

Elk chases tourist

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4 minutes ago, dinneR said:

Reading ain't your thing is it?

How far is "making sure to keep his distance"?  I don't have a map of that area, so it seems like there was just one moran closer to the Elk than another moran.

And FTR, the guy who ran got some exercise, a fun story, and was completely unharmed.  That's a win-win-win.

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17 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Slow news day?  No blood, no foul, but also, who took that photo, and where were they in relation to the elk?

Adam Collins, a visitor from Glen Ellyn, Illinois, said he shot this picture Friday of a bull elk chasing a man who got too close near the Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Grand Teton National Park.

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5 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

How far is "making sure to keep his distance"?  I don't have a map of that area, so it seems like there was just one moran closer to the Elk than another moran.

And FTR, the guy who ran got some exercise, a fun story, and was completely unharmed.  That's a win-win-win.

But rules for observing wildlife — and maintaining distance from toothy, four-legged, and furry creatures — in the southern national park are the same as in Yellowstone, Grand Teton’s larger, northern neighbor. Both parks require people to maintain a distance of at least 100 yards from bears and wolves. They require visitors to maintain at least 25 yards from all wildlife, and the parks’ rules warn that animals “are wild and may act aggressively if approached.”

Collins, for his part, said he thought the rules were fairly well communicated in the park’s signage and pamphlets. He even sat his son, a fifth-grader, down to show him YouTube videos of human-animal interactions gone wrong.

The message: “You don’t want to get near these things. They look cool, but they’re better from a distance.”

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1 minute ago, jsharr said:

Adam Collins, a visitor from Glen Ellyn, Illinois, said he shot this picture Friday of a bull elk chasing a man who got too close near the Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Grand Teton National Park.

...and "stopped the car, and got out to take a few photos, making sure to keep his distance as the elk moved toward the Teton Park road". 

IOW, he too was out and about, but just not the closest.  Not knowing the layout of that area - Dennis does - it's a question of why is one random person getting out of their car and approaching an elk at a self-proclaimed "safe distance" different than the lunatic who did the same but attracted the elks attention first?

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I have been chased by elk before, it was interesting.  I was going camping with a buddy and our dogs, we stopped in a restaurant to get something to eat.  When we came out, we saw maybe 40 elk or so (females) crossing an open area.  We let the dogs out to go to the bathroom, and they decided to have some fun and chase the elk, who started running.  Well, the male elk were walking behind the chick elk, and soon figured out that the dogs were just dogs (and not wolves), and started chasing them with intent.  We started calling the dogs back, who didn't realize the danger, and they finally figured it out and made a beeline to the Landcruiser with the elk right behind them.  The dogs quickly jumped into the open gate, we quickly closed it as the elk were still running in our direction, but now at us.  I jumped in the passenger seat and my buddy was right behind and jumped on my lap and slammed the door closed as the elk were rounding the back of the Landcruiser toward us.  The elk were maybe 5 - 6 feet away at that point, so it was close.  I think that they really thought we had just disappeared magically, and kept on trotting past the car, where we were kind of laughing at how we were pretty damn lucky to have escaped without crapping on ourselves.

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6 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Which brings the 75' distance for both the photographer and the runner into question?

In what way?   The photographer hiked to the chapel and kept his distance, according to his own words.  He turned and saw the guy on the road approaching the moose and snapped his photo.  No way to tell where he parked or how close got, but the wording of the article makes it appear that he was smart enough to stay clear of the moose.   He even goes so far as to tell how his elementary school aged son had shown him videos of the dangers of interaction with the animals.

I wonder if we could reach out to the fifth grader and have him explain it to you?  

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2 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

I have been chased by elk before, it was interesting.  I was going camping with a buddy and our dogs, we stopped in a restaurant to get something to eat.  When we came out, we saw maybe 40 elk or so (females) crossing an open area.  We let the dogs out to go to the bathroom, and they decided to have some fun and chase the elk, who started running.  Well, the male elk were walking behind the chick elk, and soon figured out that the dogs were just dogs, and started chasing them with intent.  We started calling the dogs back, who didn't realize the danger, and they finally figured it out and made a beeline to the Landcruiser with the elk right behind them.  The dogs quickly jumped into the open gate, we quickly closed it as the elk were still running in our direction, but now at us.  I jumped in the passenger seat and my buddy was right behind and jumped on my lap and slammed the door closed as the elk were rounding the back of the Landcruiser toward us.  The elk were maybe 5 - 6 feet away at that point, so it was close.  I think that they really thought we had just disappeared magically, and kept on trotting past the car, where we were kind of laughing at how we were pretty damn lucky to have escaped without crapping on ourselves.

Hey, you were doing your job.  You were safe.  Running faster than your buddy was a great plan.

 

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5 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

I have been chased by elk before, it was interesting.  I was going camping with a buddy and our dogs, we stopped in a restaurant to get something to eat.  When we came out, we saw maybe 40 elk or so (females) crossing an open area.  We let the dogs out to go to the bathroom, and they decided to have some fun and chase the elk, who started running.  Well, the male elk were walking behind the chick elk, and soon figured out that the dogs were just dogs (and not wolves), and started chasing them with intent.  We started calling the dogs back, who didn't realize the danger, and they finally figured it out and made a beeline to the Landcruiser with the elk right behind them.  The dogs quickly jumped into the open gate, we quickly closed it as the elk were still running in our direction, but now at us.  I jumped in the passenger seat and my buddy was right behind and jumped on my lap and slammed the door closed as the elk were rounding the back of the Landcruiser toward us.  The elk were maybe 5 - 6 feet away at that point, so it was close.  I think that they really thought we had just disappeared magically, and kept on trotting past the car, where we were kind of laughing at how we were pretty damn lucky to have escaped without crapping on ourselves.

Since your buddy was in your lap, he would have technically crapped on himself and you.  Just saying.

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5 minutes ago, jsharr said:

according to his own words.

He lied?

An elk chased someone in a NP.  Like I wrote, that's a "dog bites mailman" story - ie a non-story.  But then folks pile on Moran #1 while taking Moran #2 at his word.  Just interesting. :D

Show me the bison tossing the person around by their pants, and I'll watch!

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15 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

He lied?

An elk chased someone in a NP.  Like I wrote, that's a "dog bites mailman" story - ie a non-story.  But then folks pile on Moran #1 while taking Moran #2 at his word.  Just interesting. :D

Show me the bison tossing the person around by their pants, and I'll watch!

So just to be clear, it's not just about the people. Getting too close to wildlife stresses them. It's not good for them. 

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33 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

He lied?

An elk chased someone in a NP.  Like I wrote, that's a "dog bites mailman" story - ie a non-story.  But then folks pile on Moran #1 while taking Moran #2 at his word.  Just interesting. :D

Show me the bison tossing the person around by their pants, and I'll watch!

I love those videos. Stupid human .

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I bicycled with the deer, that was exciting enough for me 

I had misplaced my car while mt. biking, it was dusk when I found a park rd that I recognized. I always try to park down hill of the riding, so I was cruising down the road, feeling much better about things.

Dusk was turning to dark in the woods, I could hear something running close to the road, but couldn’t see it. A small herd of deer crossed the road, diagonally, with me right in midst of them.

There was no contact, but I was pretty energized for the last part of the ride to the car 

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11 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

75 feet is not very close.

That tells me you should NEVER go out to any location were there are animals in the wild.  :frantics:   That's VERY close.  

Over the years,  WoBG and I have day hiked in MANY places.  Alaska and British Columbia we knew were were NOT at the top of the food chain during a hike.  Doing something stupid..  and your are in BIG trouble and are miles from the trailhead.  

On a mountain trail in June, in the Whistler area, WoBG was about 25 feet (she hikes at a fast pace) in front of me and our grandson (he was a teenager then).   There was a curve in the trail around some rocks, and then we stopped.  There was a bear and her cub crossing the trail maybe 300 feet down the trail.  That is TOO CLOSE.   The bear saw us.   We didn't move for a while, and the bear decided to continue on it's way which was not in our direction.  :)  When we knew the bear was walking away, and it knew we were no threat... then we started to slowly hike back to the trailhead.  That was close enough for us.   We were more than happy the bear didn't get scared and wanted to attack us.   

In Alaska, we found the remains of a Dall Sheep along side a trail.  Yeah...  something had dinner there and it wasn't a human.   At least it looked like it was dead for a while.   WoBG asked... would the animal who killed the sheep attack us.   I told her, yes it is a possibility.  Then again, we never saw any live animals (they may have seen us).  

Dall Sheep

Dall sheep in denali.jpg

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9 hours ago, Bikeguy said:

That tells me you should NEVER go out to any location were there are animals in the wild.  :frantics:   That's VERY close.  

My point there was that the "running" dude was maybe 10'-20' from the elk, but the "photo taker" dude was likely inside that 75' distance TOO.  IOW, the recommended 75' distance feels "far" and it's fun to chastise the running moran, but there were morans galore on the side of the road. Running dude was just the Alpha, but there was a herd of them. 

FTR, I'm still alive, and have had countless encounters with elk, moose, bears, and more.  I'm fine keeping my distance or turning around.  I've also seen many times where there is way more than one person acting like a dope, so I guess I'm more inclined to spread the dopiness to a larger group than just that guy who ended up running.

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I've seen tourists like that, particularly in Yellowstone National Park.

I saw a big bull bison walking through the parking lot at the Norris Geysers: I have a video of the bison while a VW microbus passed between me and the bison and the bison's hump can be seen above the VW.

So a guy with a little girl, about 2 years-old, decided to walk into the parking lot's driveway - right in front of the bison, and snap pictures.  If that bison had decided to charge, that little girl would not have been able to get out of the way.

If someone pulls their car over on the figure-eight road to scratch his butt, 20 cars will put over behind him to try to see what he's looking at.

On another occasion, about 20 cars were parked on the west side of the road, hiding behind their cars, while a black bear and cub were in a field on the east side.  The cub came to the edge of the road and a stupid tourist decided to get some close-up pictures.  We yelled at her from behind the cars - she wasn't even looking at mama bear.  Finally, someone yelled, "I hope your life insurance is paid up," and she finally got some sense and got off the road.

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