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Editor's note: This was initially reported as a bull elk in the video. The article has been corrected to reflect that the animal is a red stag.THE GREAT OUTDOORS — Late summer through fall is a time of year when encounters with wildlife often increase.
Last month, we featured a video showing a massive bull elk traipsing through a shopping center in Colorado. And before that, there was the video of a bull elk bugling directly into a hunter’s face.
But the elk seen in these videos are fairly slow moving. For the most part, they saunter around like they don’t have a care in the world. So you may be wondering how fast a elk, deer or red stag can actually run.
A new video shared on Stag Valley, a Facebook community dedicated to big game hunting, shows just how incredibly speedy they are when they want to be.
The slow-motion video begins with a large red stag sprinting across a wooded hillside. As it passes through dense trees, the buck’s antlers ricochet from side to side. Undeterred, it continues on its path, which happens to pass extremely close to the hunter who is filming the action.
With the massive animal rapidly approaching, the hunter ducked behind a tree for cover. He then filmed the animal as it retreated farther into the woods.
It’s stunning to watch how effortlessly the red stag leaped over fallen trees and made its way through the brush. And it's also a little jarring to think what would’ve happened if the buck's path had come closer to the hunter and the two had made contact.
