Trail Runner Attacked and Gored by Bison in Utah State Park – runnersworld.com

Kyler Bourgeous, 30, spent the first Saturday of June like many before—out on the trails, running the peaks and slopes, and enjoying the day with his parents, who came to visit and see the wildflowers in bloom this time of year.

He took his parents to the Frary Peak trail on Antelope Island State Park in Utah, a trail he runs at least once a week. An avid trail runner, Bourgeous laces up 3 to 5 times a week, totaling about 50 miles.

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Usually, Bourgeous will get in his own workout before hooking up with his parents, going for a trail run before looping back to meet them for a hike. That’s what he was doing this past Saturday. All was going normally until he ran over a small ridge.

There, he came within 10 to 20 feet of two massive bison that were concealed below it.

“I had never seen bison up this high up on the ridge before,” Bourgeous told Runner’s World.

He immediately stopped, did a 180-degree turn, and took a couple steps away from them before he heard one of the bison charge him. He started to run, but it was too late.

“I’m just amazed at the whole thing myself,” he said. “I’ve put in thousands of trail miles out there without incident. I thought I was gonna die right there.”

The bison gored him in the hip and shoulder, which sent him flying into the air and down the hill. He somehow managed to curl himself into a ball to protect himself, but the bison came back and trampled him, kicking him in the rib and cutting open his head before it left.

“I have hoof prints on my head and my back,” he said.

Miraculously, there were hikers nearby who saw the whole thing happen and called 911.

“I wasn’t able to move. I was gasping for air with these huge holes in my sides, blood was coming out of my head,” he said.

He was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he received X-rays and CAT scans.

“When I told them how I got in there, they were like, ‘no way,’” he said. “One of my nurses said they’d have to check the bison for a concussion—joking about how ‘the other guy’ must look.”

His injuries included a fractured rib and lacerations to his side and shoulder where he was impaled. He needed stitches to close those wounds, as well as draining tubes near his lung, which nearly collapsed in the attack.

Courtesy of Kyler Bourgeous

“My lung was collapsing, and a hole formed from my rib fracture, so I had an air pocket forming outside my lung that was creating pressure,” he said.

Scary as it sounds, this type of attack is actually extremely rare.

“This particular situation is one of very few incidents—it really was he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Wendy Wilson, assistant park manager at Antelope Island State Park. “There’s nothing he could have done differently—it’s just a really unfortunate situation.”

According to Wilson, the bison roam freely on Antelope Island—meaning at any time, they could be on or near a trail. And as the island has many rises and dips, they can easily be concealed.

But there are a few ways you can protect yourself if you ever come in contact with bison.

“Folks can avoid encounters by staying on trails,” Wilson said. “Wildlife learn those corridors, and it makes our movements more predictable, so over time, they may learn to avoid those corridors. However, bison may still go on the trails.”

If you do encounter a bison, the best thing to do is keep a safe distance, which should be at least 25 meters.

“All bison have personal space bubbles, but my rule of thumb is to watch their behavior,” she said. “If they stop and look up at you, you’ve made them uncomfortable, and that’s as far as you should go.”

According to Wilson, male bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and female bison up to 1,000, but they can run between 35 to 40 miles per hour.

“You can’t outrun them if they’re really aggravated enough—they can outrun even horses,” said Wilson. “Ultimately, we just suggest to be as aware of your surroundings as you can if you’re in a wild place, because you never know.”

Courtesy of Kyler Bourgeous

For now, Bourgeous is recovering. He’s set up a GoFundMe page to help cover his medical costs, which he expects to be over $50,000. But he credits running for his strong core and high pain tolerance, which his doctors have said will benefit his recovery. But at the moment, everything is arduous and pretty painful.

“The luck is mind-bending—if I think about it very long, I tear up,” he said. “I was so close to death. The impales narrowly missed nerves and arteries.”

But he won’t let this stop him from running or getting back out on the trail he loves.

“The next time I go, I’m going to have to check at any blind corner and be a little more careful about it,” he said. “But you could go anywhere and there’s something that could happen. I’ve put thousands of trail miles in out there without incident, and I won’t let this stop me.”