Posted on 11/15/2013 3:05:26 AM PST by raybbr
A North Carolina photographer dove headfirst, literally, into his assignment when he came face-to-face with an elk.
James York was photographing elk at sunrise in the Cataloochee Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tenn., when one of the elk on which he had his lens focused approached him.
"He came up peacefully enough," York said. "I was hoping he might just take a little sniff and move away but he didn't."
Instead, the elk began nuzzling York, sniffing at his leg and forcefully nudging his antlers into York's head, which York did his best to keep down.
"I'm thinking, 'Don't show him fear,'" York said. "He was prancing and digging his hoofs in the ground and then bouncing back and forth and lowering his horns down and coming at me fairly aggressive."
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
Clickable link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGQExgOxZMQ
Lucky not to get a antler in the eye or through the ribs.
Let’s see last night it was about 20 degress likely closer to lower teens up there as well as the night before. Rut season triggered. He’s lucky he wasn’t hurt.
He’s lucky he’s not carrying that elk’s baby!
Elks are goats.
Show em respect by punching them hard as you can right below their eye.
Then advance on em.
They back up every time.
That guy is lucky the elk did’t have a mind to impale him.
Reminded me of the time I was in Northern Maine doing some white water rafting, and as the bus was taking us back to our cars, there was an enormous bull moose, chewing cud with that stupid, beady-eyed look moose have when they are just bored and eating. Some guy with a camera was walking right up to the thing as was about five feet away snapping pictures.
It just sat there looking at him, and the bus driver hissed from his open door
“Get the F*** away from that thing!”
He told us that there had been someone badly injured in that exact same scenario a few years back, and that those huge males could be wildly unpredictable in certain situations.
Alright.
Went and watched the video.
Guy made himself a target and wrote a byline for his own edification.
Dumb thing to do.
I thought that was why they made telephoto lenses.
for later
Looks like a young elk. Probably just wanted to play. I’m sure he’ll have much to talk about with his elk family and friends.
Do you have “elk punching experience”?
Really?, I'm gonna go try that BRB...
Better yet shoot them and serve them with taters, gravy, and biscuits.
Moose kill more people in Alaska than bears.
FMCDH(BITS)
Ping
When you look at the size of those things, it wouldn’t appear to take much from them to crush you like a bug!
We use to raise goats and a couple were aggressive.
Seemed like when I took em on from the side they didn’t know what to do.
Elk are cervids.
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