Elk Visits Man’s Yard To Eat Apples, Gets Tangled Up In Hammock

An elk in North Carolina ended up being a laughing stock in its bid to indulge in the pleasure of eating apples.

The elk visited an apple garden in Maggie Valley in Windswept Way on Thanksgiving Day to eat apples but it got its antlers tangled up in a hammock instead, Haywood’s County Sheriff’s Office, said in a Facebook post. “The Thanksgiving antics have already started!,” he joked.

The owner of the garden, Jim Beaver, woke up to the sight of a large bull elk trying hard to free its antlers from the hammock that the family had on an apple tree. Beaver said he didn’t attempt to free the elk himself fearing it might attack.

He reached out to the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office for help with a recorded video of the elk in its act. Deputies arrived at the garden a while later. Corporal Ken Stiles climbed onto the roof and set the animal free by cutting the hammock, according to the Facebook post.

Elks regularly visit the valley to eat apples and were seen playing with the hammock a few times in the past, Beaver said. “They can be really quiet; we often will be sitting on the porch and look up and see 4-6 of them having quietly wandered in the yard to eat apples,” he told WLOS-TV.

Beaver said the elk had revisited the house a few more times later, with shreds of the red hammock still in its antlers.