Amelia Dean, 19, said she was lucky to be alive after her encounter with the animal as she hiked with a friend through Custer State Park in South Dakota during her gap year. She was left bleeding profusely after the bison charged and gored her left thigh, severing a major artery. It then stood near her head until her friend pulled it away and called the emergency services. Speaking from a hospital in nearby Rapid City, Dean said she and her friend were about 300 feet from the grazing herder when it charged.