A photographer was taking pictures in Great Smoky Mountains National Park when a bull elk approached. A dangerous situation. There’s sadness ahead, so watch the video without reading further if you want to keep it light.

From the photographer (the man in the video getting poked by the elk):

“My first thoughts were “wow, he’s getting pretty damn close here.” But I’ve been up close before without incident. I hoped being still and passive would see him pass on. When he lowered his antlers to me, I wanted to keep my vitals protected and my head down. I felt that standing up would provoke him more and leave me more vulnerable to goring. I think that while protecting myself with my head down, having my head down was a signal that I was rutting with him. I was concerned at first, but when he started rearing back and lunging at me later on, I got scared and pissed off. That’s when I wagged my finger at him to cut that shit out. I was relieved to see the Ranger coming.

So I guess at some point if the Ranger hadn’t of pulled up, I would have had to disengage the best I could. I’ve joked with my friends that at least he took me for a buck and not a cow!”

I found the video riveting. Sadly, because of repeated patterns of aggressive behavior, the park service made a controversial decision to put the elk down.