Bison throws fleeing grandfather eight feet into the air at Yellowstone

A bull bison at Yellowstone National Park hooked a fleeing grandfather and threw him roughly eight feet (about 2.5 metres) in the air as his grandson escaped.

The New York Times and the New York Post identified the man as Carl Isom-McDaniel, a grandfather from Whatcom County, Washington, who broke multiple bones. The attack happened Friday night at Bridge Bay Campground, near Yellowstone Lake in the southeastern corner of the park in Wyoming.

A tourist was seriously injured after a bison tossed them about 8 feet into the air in Yellowstone National Park. The attack was captured on video by photographer Mike Macleod. pic.twitter.com/ZtGTb32Gee

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 12, 2026

Isom-McDaniel was badly hurt but stayed upbeat as he waited for a park ambulance, Mike MacLeod, the photographer who filmed the encounter, told the New York Times. He was “conscious the whole time, in good spirits, joking.”

The bull had been charging around the campground as mating season began, MacLeod said. It rushed a group of teenage boys, who scattered, then wallowed in the dirt by a picnic table before Isom-McDaniel and his young grandson stopped to photograph it.

MacLeod said that when the bison stood up, the grandfather told his grandson it was time to go. The grandson darted away, but the bull chased Isom-McDaniel around a cluster of pines, caught him with its left horn near the hip and flipped him.

MacLeod told the Times he put down his camera and ran at the animal, shouting and waving his arms to drive it off as it stood over the man. Other campers followed, and the bison ran off. A park ambulance arrived about 10 minutes later.

Yellowstone visitor flung into the air by bison identified as grandfather who immediately laughed it off https://t.co/RAnIcSLCLF pic.twitter.com/lW7JuIeUWf

— New York Post (@nypost) July 13, 2026

Neither the National Park Service nor Yellowstone officials had released information about the attack, according to the Times, and a hospital had not provided an update on his condition.

MacLeod, who has a degree in wildlife biology, said the bull was likely more aggressive with the start of mating season. The Park Service requires visitors to stay at least 25 yards (about 23 metres) from bison, which can weigh up to 2,000 pounds (about 900 kilograms) and run 30 miles an hour (almost 50 km/h).

MacLeod said Isom-McDaniel and his grandson had kept their distance and had not provoked the bull. Leaving the park over the weekend, though, he said he saw far more dangerous cases of people getting much closer.

It was the second bison injury at Yellowstone this year, after a 12-year-old was hurt near Mud Volcano in late June, according to Cowboy State Daily. Bison injure more people at the park than any other animal, according to the Park Service.

Isom-McDaniel, 65, is a longtime community volunteer back home in Washington who sits on several local boards and commissions and has played Santa Claus at events, the Cascadia Daily News reported last year.

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