Man attacked by bison recalls terrifying encounter: “He could have gored me”

The man who was attacked by a bison at Yellowstone National Park earlier this month is opening up about the terrifying moment he was thrown 8 feet into the air by the animal.

“Even though I was on the ground, he could have stomped me. He could have gored me. He could have done anything,” Carl Isom-McDaniel said, speaking about the incident for the first time from his hospital bed.

The 65-year-old said he and his grandson were on a walk after dinner when the bison suddenly charged at them.

“We saw the bison and he was down. He wasn’t showing aggression or anything like that until it picked a target. That target happened to be me,” Isom-McDaniel said. “He just kept coming and he was more aggressive and as soon as he got off that tree, he launched me in the air.”

Mike MacLeod, who captured the attack on camera, said he and others helped chase the bison away.

“I charged the bison, yelling and screaming and kind of been trying to put my camera up in the air,” said MacLeod. “And a bunch of other men joined me, and we successfully hazed the bison off of the victim.”

Isom-McDaniel suffered a broken femur that his doctor said was “broken in multiple pieces.” He’s currently recovering from surgery at Bozeman Health in Montana.

The attack on Isom-McDaniel is the second documented bison attack at Yellowstone National Park this year. A 12-year-old visitor was injured by a bison at the park in June.

Park officials say bison will defend their space when threatened, but MacLeod said that wasn’t the case in this situation.

“They did everything right,” he said.

In the video of the attack, Isom-McDaniel is seen standing with his grandson about 100 yards away from the bison before it charged. The National Park Service on its website warns that bison are “wild animals and are unpredictable.” It suggests maintaining a distance of 100 feet from bison, or around 33 yards, and if you’re within 100 feet, it’s recommended to view them from your vehicle.

“The bottom line is people come to the national park because it’s wild and risky and that’s part of the downside is that there’s a risk,” MacLeod said.