Rescuers Risk Lives To Save Elk That Got Tangled In Rope On Colorado Cliffside

A young Colorado bull elk tried taking a shortcut up an icy, near-vertical slope but became trapped when his antlers got tangled up in rope and was left facing a slow, painful death. 

Lucky for the bull, wildlife agents and ice climbers teamed up and pulled off a creative, and dangerous, rescue. They rigged the bull with more ropes and lowered him gently back down the slope. 

“We’re really thankful for the climbers and their knowledge of knots and ropes,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest region spokesman John Livingston told Cowboy State Daily. 

CPW agents didn’t get the climbers’ names at the scene.

Climbing Assist Rope Traps Elk

The elk apparently got trapped sometime overnight last Thursday-Friday at a popular ice climbing spot near Lake City, Colorado. 

A rope with handhold loops was installed on a steep slope there, Livingston said. People used the rope to hoist themselves up the slope, to get to prime ice climbing spots. 

Sometime during the night, when nobody was there, the five-point bull decided to try climbing the slope. But one of his antlers got caught in the rope. 

The elk must have panicked and started struggling until his antlers became helplessly entangled, Livingston said. 

At about 7 a.m. Friday, climbers arrived and found the exhausted bull languishing on the slope, with his hindquarters just a few feet from a perilous drop-off. 

The climbers called CPW. Local wildlife officer Lucas Martin arrived a short time later but he didn’t have a tranquilizer gun. 

He put in a call to CPW biologist Alyssa Meier, who is stationed in the Gunnison, Colorado office, about 45 minutes away.

So the situation turned into a waiting game, and sheriff’s deputies helped keep a growing crowd of gawkers away from the elk. 

“Sometimes people see a situation like that, and they want to get close. That’s not safe, with a decent-sized five-by-five bull elk with sharp antlers and sharp hooves. They are unpredictable when they’re that stressed,” Livingston said.  

‘It Took Seven Guys To Lift It’

After Meier arrived, she shot the elk with a tranquilizer dart. Then everybody waited for about 10 minutes while the drugs took effect. 

Once the bull was sedated, climbers and wildlife agents moved in. They cut the rope away from his antlers. Then they replaced it with a new rope rig, to support the animal’s head and neck, Livingston said. 

A rope harness was also rigged around the elk’s body, just behind his front legs. 

That required heaving the bull up off the ground. 

“It took seven guys to lift it,” Livingston said. “We estimated it was about a two-and-a-half-year-old bull, about 700 pounds.”

Then the team gently and slowly lowered the elk back down to level ground. 

It was given “reversal drugs” for the tranquilizer, Livingston said. 

“After 10-12 minutes, the elk got back on its feet and walked off,” Livingston said. 

The bull already had some old wounds on his head and face, probably from fighting with other bull elk during the fall rut, or mating season, Livingston said. 

It suffered a few minor scrapes during its ordeal, but didn’t appear to have any serious injuries, he said.  

As the humans watched the elk walk off, they were thankful things ended the way they did, he said. 

“It’s just one of those wild stories that could only happen in the San Juan Mountains,” he said. 

Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.