{"id":558292,"date":"2026-02-01T09:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T09:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/558292\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T09:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T09:06:22","slug":"colorados-wildlife-community-mourns-the-loss-of-split-5-an-estes-park-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/558292\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado&#8217;s wildlife community mourns the loss of Split 5, an Estes Park icon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ESTES PARK, Colo. \u2014 Wildlife photographers and enthusiasts in Colorado and beyond are mourning the reported death of Split 5, an iconic elk heralded as Rocky Mountain National Park royalty for years.<\/p>\n<p>The bull \u2013 named Split 5 for the split in the fifth tine on both of his massive antlers \u2013 has long drawn the lenses and eyes of visitors and locals alike for his imposing stature, dominance of the rut and unique personality.<\/p>\n<p>The belief in that community is that the famous elk was legally hunted and harvested in October. Colorado Parks and Wildlife couldn\u2019t confirm the killing since elk hunters aren\u2019t required to report harvests to the agency.<\/p>\n<p>Split 5 was known to arrive in Estes Park in June and leave in October, according to one photographer who has followed the elk since 2019. The bull may have been hunted at or near his wintering grounds outside of town.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Hear from a photographer who&#8217;s followed Split 5 for years about what the elk meant to the wildlife community, in the video player below:<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Colorado&#8217;s wildlife community mourns the loss of famous elk Split 5, an Estes Park icon<\/p>\n<p>Hunting is illegal inside Rocky Mountain National Park, and a park spokesperson said they couldn&#8217;t confirm Split 5&#8217;s death.<\/p>\n<p>As word of the elk\u2019s passing spread this week, tributes poured in on social media from fans across the region.<\/p>\n<p>Denver7 caught up with one of the loyal photographers in the station\u2019s <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/ourco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Discover Colorado | Through Your Photos group on Facebook<\/a> who has documented Split 5\u2019s activity for years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was in charge of his own fame,\u201d said Stephen Branum, who operates the photography account <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuntamedview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Untamed View<\/a> and leads guided tours of Estes Park. \u201cI mean, it&#8217;s Rocky Mountain National Park. We have over 5 million people come through here annually, and a lot of people just are like, \u2018Oh, I hope we see [Split 5].&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Branum says he\u2019s in the park most days, often looking for Split 5 himself and regularly fielding requests from others to catch a glimpse of the well-known wapiti. He tells us he\u2019s had tour cancellations from prospective visitors hoping to see Split 5 who have heard the news.<\/p>\n<p>Social media has helped drive Split 5\u2019s fame, said Branum, who has shared countless photos and videos of the bull that have <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuntamedview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">captivated his roughly 150,000 followers<\/a> across Facebook and Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just nationwide, that would be worldwide,\u201d he said. \u201c[I have followers from] so many nations that are like, \u2018Oh, we saw him,\u2019 or, \u2018We&#8217;ve been watching him [&#8230;] He\u2019s just that recognizable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1769936778_871_.jpeg\" alt=\"split 5 anita wooldridge\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"854\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Anita Wooldridge Photography<\/p>\n<p>    Never a shortage of cameras<\/p>\n<p>Branum said some photographers would travel hours to get to the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park in the wee hours with hopes of first dibs on finding Split 5.<\/p>\n<p>He had command of the herd \u2013 other elk would scatter at just the sight of the massive bull, Branum said \u2013 and of the moment. While his majesty has been captured in stoic forest scenes or amid his harems during the fall rut, he was also known to hang out by the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, unbothered by surrounding crowds.<\/p>\n<p>In one clip Branum shared with us, Split 5 can be seen taking a nap on a busy baseball field.<\/p>\n<p>No matter the scene, camera lenses were likely to be nearby.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was the entertainer, not me,\u201d Branum said. \u201cI&#8217;m just there with a camera to capture some of these moments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1769936780_119_.png\" alt=\"SPLIT 5_cameras.png\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"720\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Denver7 \/ The Untamed View<\/p>\n<p>Those moments will be missed by Split 5\u2019s fans, he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With him being gone, those of us who are with him daily, weekly to see him and see what he&#8217;s up to [&#8230;] we&#8217;re not going to get to see that again,\u201d Branum said. \u201cThat kind of sucks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>    Complicated feelings about the end<\/p>\n<p>Split 5 was also known as Atlas for his rack of antlers that looked like it could hold the world. He\u2019s believed to have had what\u2019s called a 400-class rack, marking an extraordinary size based on nuanced measurements known in trophy elk circles.<\/p>\n<p>But he likely wasn\u2019t hunted for his impressive crown.<\/p>\n<p>Split 5\u2019s followers estimate him to have been about 12 years old. The typical lifespan for an elk in the wild is 10-13 years, according to information published by Estes Park.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a lot of ruts, during which bulls battle each other over cows. The last rut seemed to take a toll on Split 5, who was photographed with broken antlers and was seen with a limp in his final weeks, Branum said.<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1769936781_410_.jpeg\" alt=\"split 5 broken antlers.jpg\"  width=\"1200\" height=\"1200\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Untamed View<\/p>\n<p>His death coming at the hands \u2013 or the weaponry \u2013 of a hunter has stirred up plenty of reaction in the wildlife community.<\/p>\n<p>Those who are supportive of elk hunting may say it\u2019s a necessary means of population control and a meaningful food source. Hunting license fees also help fund wildlife conservation and management projects in Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>Hunting critics would argue that nature is capable of regulating itself, that the sport is disruptive to natural selection or that harm to animals is ethically unsound. There is, of course, also the emotional draw to a beloved animal like Split 5.<\/p>\n<p>Others who fall in between the two sides of the debate may take solace in the fact that Split 5 likely didn\u2019t feel the pain he would\u2019ve had he gone by way of wolf, mountain lion, vehicle or disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was still a wild animal, and he still went 12 full years staying away from some of the dangers that animals have across the country, across the world,\u201d Branum said.<\/p>\n<p>    Who\u2019s the next king?<\/p>\n<p>Split 5 was the most recent bull to reign as \u201cking\u201d in Estes Park.<\/p>\n<p>Decades ago, an elk named Samson was known as the dominant bull. He was illegally poached in the 1990s but is immortalized by a statue at the entrance to Estes Park.<\/p>\n<p>A bull named Kahuna became the most famous in the herd after Samson, and was a draw to the town, Branum said. Kahuna died of natural causes.<\/p>\n<p>After Split 5\u2019s reign, elk admirers await the next bull to take over.<\/p>\n<p>Branum said the leader in the clubhouse is a bull known as Kahuna Jr. or KJ.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Kahuna Jr, who a lot of us feel like \u2013 and nature decides \u2013 but he [&#8230;] was the dominant bull,\u201d Branum said. \u201cSplit 5 was getting older, but [KJ] was the show during the rut last year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1769936782_12_.png\" alt=\"kahuna jr.png\"  width=\"720\" height=\"1280\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Untamed View<\/p>\n<p>        Kahuna Jr.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n    <b>Do you have a Discover Colorado story idea you want told? Shoot me an email: Landon.haaf@denver7.com<\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESTES PARK, Colo. \u2014 Wildlife photographers and enthusiasts in Colorado and beyond are mourning the reported death of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":558293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[6753,244045,244046,244047,244048,244049,244050,244051,244052,77041,159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":["post-558292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-atlas","tag-atlas-elk","tag-atlas-estes-park","tag-atlas-hunted","tag-atlas-killed","tag-colorado-wild-photography","tag-elk-atlas","tag-estes-park-most-famous-elk","tag-rmnp-most-famous-elk","tag-rocky-mountain-national-park","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115994583729066310","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}