Elk NetworkWyoming Bowhunters Have Oh So Close Front Row Seat to Bull Elk Duel

General | October 6, 2022

It just doesn’t get any more real than this. Nor does it get any more intense or, gulp, closer.

“We heard them bugling, bugling, bugling and then ‘wham!’ As soon as we heard the crack together, we started sneaking in closer,” Seth Lee, a Wyoming bowhunter, told Cowboy State Daily. “I’ve never seen anything like those two bulls fighting. They just wanted to kill each other.”

Lee and a hunter partner had a front row seat as the two fully mature bulls engaged in a ferocious fight during their September bow hunt. At one point, one bull flipped over the other but it quickly regained its footing and kept dueling. The video also showed one of several smaller bull elk that heard the commotion and showed up to join the hunters in the bystander role.

The fight continued for 20-25 minutes before the animals disappeared over the horizon. Lee said his partner wanted to take a shot but he broke his bow earlier and his arrows did not sync up with its replacement.

(Video credit: Cowboy State Daily)