The rut (mating season) can make bull elk extremely aggressive. They’ve been known to charge humans and ram cars to protect their harem of females.
In short, you should do everything in your power to keep your distance from elk in the late-summer and early-fall.
The video below shows a particularly big elk near Estes Park, CO bugling and using its enormous antlers to take on cars passing by on Highway 34.
It doesn’t seem afraid at all.
I feel bad for the driver of that blue Sierra, he or she probably has some scratches to fix up, but at least they did the right thing for the elk’s safety.
I wouldn’t necessarily love getting my vehicle’s paint job messed up, but I guess I’d choose that minor inconvenience over the elk getting injured.
Poor thing is so horned up it doesn’t realize it’s putting itself in danger by attacking vehicles… 😂