SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — An unexpected visitor swung by a Sioux Falls business earlier this week.

A bull elk was caught on camera making its way through the parking lot.

At first, Airway Auto Service owner Tom Broadbent didn’t believe it. But after a little searching he found the evidence.

“That’s a track; that’s a track. That’s a track; that’s a track,” Broadbent said. “So he was back here, and he was back along that fence like he was trying to get across.”

Broadbent says he probably would have never known about the elk if it wasn’t for a man visiting Sioux Falls.

“So I get a phone call from a random guy. He says I don’t know him and he says, ‘Do you own Airway Service?’ and I said, ‘Yep.’ He says, ‘You ain’t going to believe this but 5:30 in the morning I was coming out of the hotel and I saw a bull elk crossing your lot. It went right past your front door,’ and I’m like, ‘There’s no way; we don’t see elk around here.'”

But sure enough. After checking the surveillance video, the big guy came into view.

The elk was wandering around some trailers parked nearby. It seems he was stuck and looking for a way out. The city’s Big Sioux River diversion channel runs right by the business, so it might have come from there.

“Never seen an elk here before. I’ve seen a moose in town a couple of times, you know. We see the occasional coyote or something on our video cameras. We catch raccoons fairly often; they set off the motion sensors and security people see them but never had an elk,” said Broadbent.

An animal expert with the state tells us this is the time of year a young bull elk would be wandering around looking for a mate. If the elk is from a domestic heard, his disappearance should be reported to the state.

In 2016, an elk was spotted on the eastern side of the state near Colman.