Wyoming Hunter Saves Elk Tangled In Barbed Wire From A Slow, Miserable Death

Mitchell Wolfe is used to seeing elk and other wildlife while doing his rounds in oil fields south of Rock Springs, but something about a bull elk he glimpsed lying by the roadside Saturday morning made him turn his truck around.

He initially thought the bull, which had one of its rear legs tangled in a barbed wire fence, was dead because it was completely still.

But when he got close, he could see the bull’s ribcage rhythmically rising and falling.

“I thought, ‘He’s breathing. He’s still alive,’” Wolfe told Cowboy State Daily.

He retrieved some tools from his truck and spent the next 15 minutes or so freeing the elk’s leg from the tangled wire.

After doing his best to comfort the nearly catatonic bull and saying a prayer, Wolfe went on about his business.

His greatest hope was that the bull would be gone when he passed that same spot the next morning.

And when he drove back by early Sunday, the bull was gone.

‘There’s Critters Everywhere Down There’

Wolfe lives in Rock Springs and loves bowhunting for elk. 

Like many hunters, he feels a deep respect for and connection with the animals. It’s a sentiment that might seem baffling to non-hunters.

However, “I’d like to think that anybody would have done the same thing I did” to save the elk, he said. “No animal deserves to die like that."

As a hunter, Wolfe knows that elk usually move at dawn and dusk.

He figured it was probably about dawn when the bull failed in its attempt to leap the fence alongside Wyoming Highway 430, just north of the Wyoming-Colorado state line.

Wolfe came zooming by at mid-morning driving the 70 mph speed limit when he first saw the bull.

“I drove up to the next ranch pullout and then turned back around for another look,” he said. “He had probably been there struggling for about five hours, and was just completely exhausted."

Elk and other wildlife are a common sight in the area.

“There’s critters everywhere down there,” he said.

That bodes well for the overall recovery of wildlife there.

During the brutal winter of 2022-2023, elk, deer, and antelope herds on both sides of the Wyoming-Colorado line suffered devastating winterkill losses.

The bull perhaps had been one of the lucky survivors of that winter, only to end up facing a terrible death caught in the barbed wire if Wolfe had not come along when he did.

‘He Let Out A Big Sigh’

Once Wolfe realized that the bull was still breathing, he knew that failing to free it from the fence wasn’t an option.

“It wasn’t a five-minute job to get him loose,” he said.

He said that while he was working on freeing the elk, only one other vehicle passed, and that driver didn’t even slow down.

During the ordeal, the exhausted elk didn’t move.

“All he did was breathe,” Wolfe said.

The elk seemed to realize the moment its leg was finally free.

“He let out a big sigh. It’s like he was relieved to be loose,” Wolfe said.

He gently talked to the elk, patted its rump, and poured some water on its face.

“I saw one of his ears flicking and he moved his right front leg. I thought, ‘Damn, he might have a chance,’” Wolfe said.

Having done all he could, Wolfe said he left the rest up to God.

“I just said a prayer to the good Lord that he wouldn’t be there the next day,” he said.

The next day, Wolfe was overjoyed to see an empty patch of ground where the bull had been.

“By God, he was gone,” he said.

There was no blood patch or any other indication that the bull hadn’t recovered fully and walked away on his own, he added.

‘A Man Who Set The Example’

Wolfe decided to share some photos and his story on hunting-themed social media.

The reaction was huge, and overwhelmingly encouraging, he said.

“I was amazed at all the people who reached out to say positive things,” he said, adding that the reaction reflects the values of Wyoming’s hunters and other residents.

Avid hunter Randy Svalina of Laramie told Cowboy State Daily that he was moved by Wolfe’s account of saving the elk.

“The fact that this was done with no fanfare being sought, jus’ simply doin’ the right thing for the right reason, is something that we can both take encouragement in and aspire to replicate if we have the opportunity,” he said.

“Mitchell’s efforts to save this elk epitomize the core values which we as hunters hope to impart to our own children and those who follow us into the field,” Svalina added. "I offer my gratitude to a man who set the example for all of us.”

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.