Estes Park, Colorado: Home to quaint, mountain-town restaurants and coffee shops, exceptional views of the Rocky Mountains, and drivers that clearly don’t understand how easily an elk could smash out one of your windows.
It’s estimated that over 280,000 elk live in Colorado, which is enough to give the state the honor of housing the largest concentrated population of elk in the world. Believe it or not, that many elk bring in tourists from all over the planet, and one of the more popular places they visit is Estes Park, Colorado.
Elk are typically abundant in and around the Estes Park area.
The large, antlered animals might seem like the peaceful, grazing type, but they can turn it on in an instant if the situation calls for it. They’ll throw down – or rather, throw antlers – at any place, at any time. That’s certainly true during the elk rut, which typically extends from early/middle of September to the middle of October. If you happen to live in elk country, you know that it’s best to avoid elk during this time.
Evidently, the driver of didn’t get that memo. They came to a stop on a road near an Estes Park golf course to take in the sights of the elk herd that had gathered in the area, and they got a good look alright. One could argue they had the best angle of anyone when a bull elk sprinted over, lowered its antlers, and smashed out the back window of the car.
That vacation bill got a lot larger… real quick.
There’s no doubt that this bull elk was in a bad mood, and I’d guess that the owner of the vehicle was in one too after this incident. One second, they were leisurely driving through Estes Park and taking in the natural beauty. The next? They were probably pulled over in a parking lot (away from all the elk) picking up pieces of glass from their backseat while on the phone with their insurance company.
Hopefully they got a hold of this footage as proof:
That back window never stood a chance.
It’s normal for bull elk to be more aggressive and vocal from September to November. They starting “acting up” during that period of time to establish dominance, and in hopes of securing a female mate. This bull was so enthralled by the season’s pheromones that he decided to pick a fight with a… Honda.
And most of the social media users that stumbled upon this video thinks that the driver of the vehicle is to blame. They didn’t really try to get out of the way of the charging elk, and the comment section let them hear it:
“Potatoes have better situational awareness than this driver.”
“That should teach them not to hold up traffic.”
“Johnson County, Kansas plates. They ain’t never seen no elk up close like that.”
“Try explaining that one to insurance!”
“The driver only had 2-3 business days to move their car.”
“How can you literally sit there, watch an elk rush your car, and not hit the gas?”
Fair question.
