An evening stroll inside Yellowstone National Park nearly turned deadly Friday when a bull bison went on a violent rampage, ultimately catching an elderly man and hurling him eight feet skyward.
The chaos began at Bridge Bay Campground, a popular family destination south of Fishing Bridge, when a massive bison quietly wandered into the area undetected.
Montana photographer Mike MacLeod, who was camping nearby with his wife, spotted the animal first and grabbed his camera to document the encounter from a safe distance.
What started as routine wildlife footage quickly escalated.
The bison set its sights on a group of children snapping photos from what they believed was a safe distance. MacLeod, a former Army combat photographer, watched as the animal charged the youngsters, who scattered and escaped injury.
Rather than calming down, the bison stormed through the crowded campground, triggering panic among visitors who shouted warnings to each other while racing to safety. The animal eventually settled into a dirt patch beside the road, appearing to rest.
It was during this apparent lull that an unidentified grandfather and his grandson entered the scene, unaware of the danger that had just unfolded, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
Spotting the resting bison, the pair kept their distance — roughly 100 yards, the safety buffer recommended by the National Park Service and equivalent to the length of a football field.
MacLeod praised the crowd’s discipline in the moments that followed. “I didn’t see anybody getting close,” he said. “People were yelling, ‘Careful, there’s a bison coming through,’ and they kept their distance. They were very respectful.”
The grandfather and grandson snapped a few photos of the animal before retreating into a nearby wooded area, seemingly out of harm’s way.
But the calm didn’t last. A white pickup truck drove past the campground, and the bison redirected its aggression toward the vehicle.
“The bison was charging the truck. The guy in the truck saw that happening, and he just kept going,” MacLeod recounted.
Once the truck disappeared, the enraged animal turned its attention to the trees where the grandfather and grandson had taken cover.
The grandson managed to escape, but the bison locked onto his grandfather and gave chase through the woods.
Moments later, it caught up with him. MacLeod, watching through his camera lens, described the violent impact in graphic detail: the bison “hooked him with his left horn on his hip and tossed him in the air.”
The elderly victim’s body twisted through the air before crashing back down. “He made a perfect flip and landed on his side,” MacLeod said, noting the bison stood roughly six feet tall while the man flew several feet above it.
As the man lay motionless on the ground, MacLeod said the bison hovered over him, shaking its head in apparent agitation. Fearing the animal was preparing to gore the injured man, MacLeod made a split-second decision.
“I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible,” he said.
Other campers quickly joined him, forming a group that charged and shouted until the bison finally fled the campground.
With the threat gone, bystanders surrounded the injured grandfather to keep him stable until help arrived. Witnesses said the man was in significant pain in his hip and leg, though no external wounds were immediately visible.
One camper held the victim’s hand while another stood guard in case the bison returned. A woman nearby called 911, and another attempted to check for bleeding but found none.
Yellowstone EMS personnel eventually took over care of the victim, who the grandson said suffered serious injuries and remained in guarded condition. The grandson also confided in MacLeod that his grandfather initially blamed himself, wondering if he had somehow provoked the attack.
MacLeod dismissed that idea entirely, insisting his footage proves the man did nothing wrong.
“They were just out for an evening walk, just happened to turn around the corner, and there’s a bison,” he said. He added that the animal’s behavior beforehand showed clear signs of aggression: “You can tell he was agitated, pissed off, and charging anything and everything.”
Even with years of experience observing bison, MacLeod said the attack left him baffled, particularly given how many other visitors stood closer to the animal.
“I’ve been around bison for a while, but this was really weird,” he said. “Why did it pick those two? There were so many people around, and most of them were closer to and behind the bison. It was really weird.”
The violent episode occurred during Yellowstone’s bison rut, an annual mating season running from June through September that fuels heightened aggression among bulls competing for dominance. MacLeod said the ordeal permanently altered his expectations of bison behavior during this time of year.
As of this report, the National Park Service has not issued any public statement regarding the incident.
