Grandfather rammed by bison says hitting the ground was the worst part

Carl McDaniel (Bozeman Health/AP)

A grandfather who was injured when he was rammed and thrown into the air by a bison has said hitting the ground was the worst part.

Carl McDaniel, 65, suffered multiple bone fractures in the July 10 attack in Yellowstone 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 Centre in southern Montana.

“He wasn’t showing aggression or anything like that until it picked a target. That target happened to be me,” Mr McDaniel said in the video posted on Instagram.

He 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 Mr McDaniel’s grandson, who was not hurt.

Bison can run up to 35mph, faster than the men’s world record in the 100-metre spring. They stand up to 6ft tall, weigh up to 2,000lb, 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 Mr McDaniel suffered fractures in multiple places.

Mr McDaniel said the hardest part was not the creature’s horns, adding: “I didn’t get bruises from him launching me in air. It was the landing that became the problem.”