Leap Of Faith By Huge Elk Over Road — And A BONUS Tale


Screen Captures From The Video - Elk Leaps Over Road
Screen Captures From The Video
Hi!

On 3-12-18, I posted a video and story on this blog about a man standing within feet of an oblivious elk herd. (please visit this link to see that entry <—opens in new window)

Today I ran across a similar very cool video of a HUGE bull elk (or possibly a large buck)—with impressive antlers—racing along a roadway in Slovakia—as a guy in a vehicle films it.

Fortunately the driver begins to slow as it becomes obvious that the bull is veering towards the road.

In the next moment—the beautiful creature LEAPS all the way over the road right in front of the car.

Although the video quality if very low—It's still an amazing video!

(Below the video I'll share a similar experience I had years ago)

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Please Note:  If the video link above doesn't work you can find an article and the video on The Daily Mail UK.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5572489/Incredible-moment-deer-majestically-LEAPS-car-missing-collision-inches.html

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My related TALE:

Years ago—I was driving up to Colorado from Phoenix, Arizona—on a route I'd taken a few times  before but not often enough to be completely familiar with the route:

My drive took me up the east valley's Bush Highway and through Payson to Interstate 40 —and then across eastern Arizona and into Gallup, New Mexico—and then up the "Devil's Highway 666" and on through Shiprock, NM.

Once I entered the south-western side of Colorado I found myself on narrow, winding roads north of Cortez leading up to Telluride and on to Montrose—and ultimately to a little town on the mesa near above Delta, CO.

My route (in blue) as shown on google maps
My route (in blue) as shown on google maps

I had some of my favorite music playing on CD's and plenty of coffee to help keep me awake—while racing along the winding roads past little mountain towns like Dolores, Rico, and Ridgeway, Colorado—with a large map stretched out on the car seat beside me ← LONG before internet maps and smart-phones with GPS, etc : ).

I'd left Phoenix late in the afternoon—so by the time I hit Placerville it was already very late, and pitch black—with my head-lights giving the only light ahead of me.

At Placerville I came to a "T" intersection—and with hardly a stop and glance at my map—I turned left—and quickly found myself driving up along a canyon towards Norwood, CO (see red arrow on map above).

At that point nothing looked familiar and I began to think I had turned the wrong way—but there was a steep rock face to the left—and a dark drop to the right—so I decided to just keep driving until I found a wider place to look at my map and turn around if needed.

A Google Maps "Street View" Of The Road I Found Myself On Near Norwood, Colorado
A Google Maps "Street View" Of The Road I Found Myself On Near Norwood, Colorado

The road felt a bit perilous—and as you might imagine even worse in the pitch dark—but now I had lost AT LEAST 20 minutes going the wrong direction—and it'd cost me just as much time to get back to where I'd made the wrong turn—so I sped along trying to make up for lost ground.

As I rounded a curve—I saw a large White Tail doe standing along side the road—frozen in my head-lights.

I immediately slowed to a stop—and rolled down my window and sat marveling at this beautiful creature looking back at me in the dark—from around 15 to 20 yards away.

Photo: Jeffrey Beall - "Doe, A Deer, A Female Deer"

Photo: Jeffrey Beall - "Doe, A Deer, A Female Deer" - https://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/11018734546


I started to say something to it like: "Hello, Beautiful..."  ← Yeah I really did.  : )

But at the first sound of my voice—she leaped off into the dark canyon to the right with a single spring.

I felt bad because I wondered if she had been able to see where to land—or if I had inadvertently just killed the poor thing.

Pondering that—I drove on with the dome light on and juggling the map—and the road began to level out as the canyon gave way to a flatter, more open terrain—and I began seeing signs saying I would soon be entering Norwood.

I'd been distracted and hardly noticed the speed limit signs going from 45mph—to 35—and finally 25—but the thought of getting a ticket finally penetrated the fog in my brain—and I slowed to the speed limit.

Fortunately—because just THEN—as in the video above—I saw the flash of a LARGE doe, coming from the left side of the road—and it gracefully leaped right over the hood of my car as I went under it!!

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I've often thought that if I hadn't been slowing down—I would have hit it for sure.

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I'd been feeling a bit sleepy up til then—but THAT was like a jolt of several cups of coffee—and I was suddenly felt wide awake.

: )


With my heart still pounding in my chest—I found a place to stop—got a good look at the map and confirmed that I needed to turn around and go back—and then as calmness returned I sped on through the dark Colorado mountains—marveling at the magnificent creatures I'd just seen!

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Have a similar story?

Please share it in the comments—I love to hear it!

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Thanks so much for stopping by!

God Bless!





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