I’m guessing that the Dad must have been watching the baby on this one. A mom probably would have been a little more careful letting their child get this close to a wild animal…
I will preface this article by saying that the kid was apparently “fine” after this incident. Now, I don’t know what the definition of “fine” is, but it is definitely a little bit lower on the scale than “good.”
If someone asks you how you are doing, and you respond with “fine,” most of the time it means that you are dealing with a couple of things at the moment. A response of good, well, or great usually means things are going swimmingly.
So “fine” in this case could just mean that there aren’t any major injuries, just a few scratches and bruises. Oh, and a couple of hoof marks in the forehead like the Grandma from everyone’s favorite, weird Christmas song “Grandma got run over by a reindeer.”
The video starts out pretty promising, with the child standing near the edge of a wooded area face to face with a deer. It isn’t clear whether the child or the animal approached one another, but all we know is that they are locked into somewhat of a staring contest when the footage picks up.
Things look pretty peaceful to start, just before the kid starts to reach their hand out in hopes of petting the deer. That’s where the interaction turns from “Disney movie” to “living nightmare,” and the wild animal (instead of singing along with other woodland creatures) decides to get violent.
Just as the toddler is about to make contact with the deer’s nose (possibly for a ‘boop’), the wild animal stands up on its back legs, loads up with all the power it can, and goes full force into the kid, leading with its front hoofs.
Ouch…
The video quickly cuts off, but not before you can hear the impact of the deer’s feet into the child just before both of them hit the ground hard. I guess we’ll take the video owner’s word for it when they say that the kid was “fine,” because things look pretty brutal in the clip.
There are two ways that this child’s life can now turn out thanks to this unfortunate animal encounter:
-The incident created a long burrowed, anxiety-filled memory that will result in a lifelong irrational fear of deer, or maybe even any wild animal.
-This toddler will remember what happened and turn into one of the most vengeful, hardcore deer hunters the world will ever see. They’ll limit out every season, and might even seek out deer near roadways.
It can really only be one or the other.
Anyways, let this be another reminder that approaching wildlife can sometimes seem to be an interesting or good idea, but you’ll always be better off keeping your distance. I’m sure this child and whoever was watching them (and videoing) wishes they would have just snapped some pictures from afar.
Mule Deer Sneaks Into Bison Herd At Yellowstone National Park
Talk about quick thinking.
Coyotes can be some of the most dangerous creatures in all of the wild, especially if they have a partner. Not known to hunt in packs like wolves, coyotes generally keep it much smaller, like their immediate family.
Most of the time they hunt solo, but can work together, making it much more difficult for their prey to escape.
A mule deer found itself being chased down by one of these coyotes in Yellowstone National Park.
Of course, deer typically feed off vegetation, acorns, and things of that nature and when they’re young, they are the perfect prey for coyotes.
In the footage, you see the deer frantically running away, but luckily enough, there’s a herd of bison nearby.
In a desperate attempt, the deer runs to the group of stampeding bison, and quickly gets lost in the large number of the creatures.
You can see the coyote trying to figure out where the deer disappeared to.
The videographer shared in the caption:
“Up Slough Creek, in Yellowstone National Park, on Saturday, October 15, 2022 (the day the East Entrance Road reopened after June flood damage) the bison were stampeding off and on, so I was taking some phone video when a mule deer sprinted into the frame, pursued by a coyote.
Genius-level survival strategy on the part of the deer- run into the bison herd. Coyote abandoned the pursuit.”
Needless to say, I can imagine the relief the mule deer was feeling once it found its way into safety inside the herd of bison.
Check it out:
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Watch This Kid Try To Feed Deer From His Hand
I need a drink after watching this one.
Now I don’t have kids, but I know enough about young ones to know that they’re full of energy and they pretty much never sit still.
So trying to get a small child to stand still enough to get a wild deer to walk up to them and eat out of their hand? That’s like putting Wheeler Walker Jr. on stage at a kid’s birthday party: You know it isn’t going to go well.
In this video that I recently came across, a dad is trying to instruct his young sons who are holding out some bread for a group of deer that are walking down their street. And Ethan is pure chaos.
Now, obviously doing this isn’t the best idea for a number of reasons. Deer are wild animals, and no matter how cute or tame they may seem, all it takes is one wrong move to spook the deer and little Ethan’s going to be flat on his back as Bambi bolts out of there – or worse (I mean, just look at those antlers and the damage those things could do).
Not to mention the fact that wildlife can also carry diseases, and getting wild animals dependent on humans for food can also cause the deer to migrate to places that they shouldn’t be, places that aren’t sustainable for deer and are without proper food and habitat (like the middle of the road in a suburb).
But when the deer are this close, how can you not get the urge to try to get them to come up to you?
Well the dad does his best to keep little Ethan as still as possible while holding out some bread for the deer, but again, kids aren’t really the best and standing still. (To be fair, neither am I).
After a few anxiety-inducing minutes, a couple of drops of the bread, and a kid who has a harder time standing still than Garth Brooks does on stage, the buck finally makes it up to Ethan to take the bread offering out of his hand.
Whew, I see why parents drink now.
The best part of the video, though, is down below in the comments:
“The buck looked at the father like “wtf is wrong with ur kid” lol”
Dad: “Ethan, don’t move”
Ethan: “It’s fun to stay at the Y M C A!”
“There’s no way that their mom is home. This is exactly why you don’t leave your kid’s with Dad.”
“The guy behind the camera sounds like he’s negotiating during a hostage situation.”
“Not to be mean but Ethan is that one sibling or kid in the classroom that just never listens to directions and screws it up for everyone”
“10 years from now, Ethan gonna drive away with the gas nozzle still in his car.”
“Not gonna lie, Ethan gave me mad anxiety.”
“The deer is better at following instructions than Ethan.”
We can all laugh about it, but honestly, it’s just an adorable video of a kid (who may not be the best at following directions…but what kid really is?) getting an up close look at one of nature’s beautiful creatures.
I’m sure I would have had a hard time standing still too.
Elk Bites A Kid’s Hand
Out of all the things you can do, don’t put a child in front of a wild animal like this.
Elk are one of the largest members of the deer family, with adult males, known as bulls, weighing in at up to 1,000 pounds and standing up to five feet tall at the shoulder. They have massive and pointy antlers that can span up to six feet across.
Rocky Mountain National Park is home to a healthy population of elk with an estimated 600 to 800 individuals living in the park year-round. During the fall mating season these populations can increase to up to 3,000 individuals as elk from surrounding areas migrate to the park.
While elk are a big reason people go to the Rocky Mountains, they can also be a bit dangerous. During the fall rut bulls can become aggressive and territorial, and may charge or attack humans who get too close. There are other occurrences of cows become agitated.
Either way, elk encounters should be avoided as these large animals can be unpredictable.
This fella was walking by as a family of tourists approached a grazing cow elk in Rocky Mountain National Park.
They people bent down and grabbed grass, holding it out trying to entice the elk. They even encourage their child to reach out and feed it. The man filming keeps on walking and flips the camera around just in time to catch the elk biting the kid’s hand.
And if you’ve ever been bitten by a horse, elk teeth are sorta similar… it hurts… a lot.
The man just shakes his head and keeps on walking.
Stay away from these animals even though they are pretty cool.
