An idling Honda's passenger-side rear window was shattered when a bull elk struck the vehicle near an Estes Park golf course. Locals know the animal as Crash or Smash, nicknames tied to its history of charging vehicles.
The Honda belonged to Fort Collins Coloradoan reporter Miles Blumhardt, who was in Estes Park filming a story on the elk rut when the incident happened, according to the Boston 25 News report. Blumhardt said residents use both names for the bull because of its past vehicle charges. Video from the scene shows elk gathered across a golf-course green and fairways before the bull approached the Honda.
Caught on Camera as the Honda Fled
Video shows the bull strike the Honda before the car drives away with its window broken. Bystanders react as the elk moves back toward the herd; one woman says, “I'm out of here, I'm done.”
The episode comes as Estes Park leans fully into its elk-watching season, with the town's annual Elk Fest set for Bond Park this weekend, October 3 and 4, featuring bugling demonstrations, wildlife seminars, and native music, according to Visit Estes Park. The rut, elk mating season, typically runs from mid-September through mid-October in that part of Colorado, and the town's own tourism messaging describes it as a wild time of year. Larger, more mature bulls generally have the best chances of mating, and golf courses in Estes Park can host harems of roughly 30 cows guarded by just one or two bulls, making those manicured fairways a magnet for both wildlife and tourists with cameras.
Why Bulls Turn Aggressive This Time of Year
During the rut, bull elk use a high-pitched bugle to attract females and rely on their rack and sheer boldness to fend off rivals. Colorado Parks and Wildlife notes that a mature bull's antler rack can weigh up to 40 pounds and span 55 inches along the main beam, generating enough force in a charge to crumple sheet metal and shatter tempered glass, a detail that explains exactly how a parked car ends up with a blown-out window. The state agency also points out that Colorado now hosts the largest elk population in the world, with the statewide herd estimated at more than 280,000 animals in 2026, a remarkable recovery after Colorado imported just 50 elk from Wyoming in 1916 to rebuild numbers that market hunting had driven toward collapse nationwide.
That scale of population, paired with growing numbers of visitors, helps explain why encounters like the one near the golf course keep happening. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has tracked a 44% jump in recreational trail use across Colorado between 2014 and 2019, a trend that has pushed wildlife and people into closer contact along town borders and open space corridors. Vehicle-versus-wildlife collisions also spike during the fall rut, with the Colorado State Patrol logging 3,777 such crashes statewide in 2024, most of them concentrated in the late-autumn months when animal movement peaks.
Staying Safe, and Staying Legal, Around the Herd
Wildlife officials offer clear benchmarks for safe viewing distances. The National Park Service advises staying at least 25 yards from elk under normal conditions, but doubling that to 50 yards during the rut, when bulls become far less predictable. For a quick field check, Summit County, Utah wildlife managers recommend the “Rule of Thumb”: extend an arm, raise a thumb, close one eye, and if the thumb can't fully cover the elk, you're too close.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife also stresses that intentionally feeding or harassing wild animals, including elk, is illegal under state law and local municipal codes, with enforcement handled by local police and wildlife officers working to protect both visitors and the herds themselves. The rules exist precisely because scenes like the one near the golf course can escalate in seconds, even for someone sitting inside a running vehicle who assumes they're at a safe distance.
Town Guidance During the Rut
The Town of Estes Park advises visitors not to imitate elk calls during the rut, warning that doing so can endanger people and elk. The Town’s guidance addresses visitor behavior; it does not specify whether officials close golf courses or move elk when they occupy public areas. See the Town of Estes Park’s wildlife guidance.
