Man tossed by Yellowstone bison says hitting the ground was the worst
part
[July 22, 2026]
By MEAD GRUVER
Bison that
appear to be grazing peacefully are able to accelerate into a terrifying
pace, making them among the most dangerous animals in Yellowstone, where
one of the giant bovines recently charged at and tossed a grandfather.
Carl
McDaniel, 65, suffered multiple bone fractures in the July 10 attack at
the national park but lived to tell the tale, as seen in a video he
recorded a few days later from his bed at Bozeman Health Deaconess
Medical Center in southern Montana.
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This image taken from Bozeman Health video shows Carl McDaniel speaking
from in a hospital bed at Bozeman Health on July, 13, 2026, in Bozeman
Mont., after he was hit by a bison in Yellowstone National Park.
(Bozeman Health via AP) |
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“He wasn’t showing aggression or anything like that until it
picked a target. That target happened to be me,” McDaniel said
in the video posted on Instagram on Saturday.
McDaniel was on a after-dinner stroll with his grandson when the
attack happened at Bridge Bay Campground, not far from
Yellowstone Lake.
“They move faster than you could ever imagine. He just kept
coming,” he said. The bison did not connect with McDaniel’s
grandson, who was not hurt.
Bison can run up to 35 mph (56 kph), faster than the men’s world
record in the 100-meter dash. They stand up to 6 feet (2 meters)
tall, weigh up to 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms), and are North
America’s biggest land animal.
Yellowstone records on average a couple of bison attacks every
year. At least two people were attacked in the park in 2025.
Bozeman Health emergency department Dr. Eric Lowe said in the
video that McDaniel suffered fractures in multiple places.
McDaniel said the hardest part wasn’t the creature’s horns.
“I didn’t get bruises from him launching me in air,” he said.
“It was the landing that became the problem.”
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