Stay 25 yards away from bison in Yellowstone National Park. That’s the rule the National Park Service posts everywhere and so many tourists ignore.
But what happens when a bison decides to close the distance and get up close and personal?
That’s what happened in a video taken in the park earlier this month. A giant aggravated male bison charged toward a family of tourists who did the best they could to keep themselves and the bison safe.
The video was posted on the Yellowstone National Park: Invasion of the Idiots Facebook page, drawing a slew of comments and criticism. But the page’s owner Jen Mignard bestowed a rare honor on the afflicted family.
“I wouldn’t call those folks idiots,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “I’d call them lucky in a bad situation that was out of their control.”
Heading Their Way
The video captures an energized and frustrated bison as it gallops through the Upper Geyser Basin near Old Faithful. Usually docile and ambling, this bison was moving quickly and determinedly across the expanse.
Tom, the father of the family that faced the bison’s unprovoked wrath, told Cowboy State Daily that he and his family were visiting from Long Island, New York.
“We were walking on the paved trail from Old Faithful to the Morning Glory Pool around 11 a.m.,” he said. “We saw the bison from over 200 yards away, and it was running in our direction.”
After briefly pausing, the bison started galloping again, b-lining toward the man and his family. Thinking quickly, the father attempted to create a buffer between them and the bison using a group of nearby trees.
“As it passed us, it turned and chased me,” he said. “When I saw my daughter coming around the other tree, I decided I didn’t want the bison to hit her. Luckily, the bison did not run through me but instead turned around me.”
Tom said two women used a different set of trees as a buffer, advising to stay calm and stand as still as possible until the bison left. After a few harrowing moments during an incredibly stressful game of Ring Around the Rosie, the bison lost interest and charged into the nearby forest.
“Thankfully, all of us were okay,” he said. “This was a case of (the) wrong place at the wrong time. No one was injured, just a little shocked and shook up.”
When In Rut
In this incident, the afflicted tourists hadn’t done anything wrong and didn’t do anything to provoke the charging bison. The reason for its aggressive behavior was entirely natural, according to Tom.
“The bison had just lost a rut to the second bison that follows a few moments later (in the video),” he said. “It was clearly upset.”
Yellowstone bison’s mating season -- the rut -- extends from June through September. Bull bison are loud, active and more aggressive during this time as they compete with other bulls and try to mate with as many females as possible.
Bison have been known to act more aggressively toward people during this time. After losing a tussle with another bull, the angry bison decided to pick on something decidedly not his own size.
Tom said he’s received a fair amount of criticism from people who saw an edited version of the video that “made us look like we were at fault.”
“My family and I were getting blasted by ignorant and inappropriate comments,” he said. “The video shows the bison approached us.”
Mignard said she’s seen hundreds of videos of Yellowstone tourists doing stupid things during their visits. After reviewing the video of the charging bison, she could confidently say this hapless family did their best in a dangerous, bison-initiated situation.
“We get quite a few videos and pictures from folks wanting to find something wrong, and sometimes, there just isn’t,” she said. “Some things are just out of control, like pissed-off buffalo.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
