Famed Rocky Mountain Bull Elk Possibly Killed By Mountain Lion

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, CO — A famed bull elk known as "Big Kahuna," "Bruno" and "Incredibull" was found dead in Rocky Mountain National Park, and he may have been eaten by a mountain lion.

Loren Schrag, who has photographed the famous elk for four years, told KCNC-TV he came across the animal's carcass. It had obvious signs of being eaten by a mountain lion.

“The tracks were pretty clear,” Schrag said. “No claws.”

A photo posted in the Facebook group Elk In Estes Park showed clear signs an animal fed on the elk.

"The king has fallen! Big Kahuna has laid to rest," Andrew Sanders wrote in the post.

Schrag told Newsweek the carcass was on the bank of a river.

"Mountain lion tracks [were] around him and what appeared to be wounds to his neck," he said. "One antler had already been naturally shed, a process all elk naturally undergo each spring, but the other was still attached, which allowed me to positively identify him."

Kyle Patterson of the National Parks Service told the TV station the elk "could have died from natural causes or been preyed on by a mountain lion."

The elk appeared to have been injured just before its death. Patterson told KCNC-TV another elk hurt "Kahuna" during breeding season.

"In this season of excitement, bull elk compete with one another for the right to breed with a herd of females," the parks service said on its website.

Competition is high among bulls, but it usually includes little fighting because fighting causes injury and depletes energy.

Experts believe the elk was more than 10 years old when he died. The parks service said free roaming elk have a lifespan of about 10-13 years in the wild.