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.<\/p>\n
He initially thought the bull, which had one of its\u00a0rear\u00a0legs tangled in a barbed wire fence, was dead because it was completely still.<\/p>\n
But when he got close, he could see the bull\u2019s ribcage rhythmically rising and falling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018He\u2019s breathing. He\u2019s still alive,\u2019\u201d Wolfe told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n
He retrieved some tools from his truck and spent the next 15 minutes or so freeing the elk\u2019s leg from the tangled wire.<\/p>\n
After doing his best to comfort the nearly catatonic bull and saying a prayer, Wolfe went on about his business.<\/p>\n
His greatest hope was that the bull would be gone when he passed that same spot the next morning.<\/p>\n
And when he drove back by early Sunday, the bull was gone.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2018There\u2019s Critters Everywhere Down There\u2019<\/p>\n
Wolfe lives in Rock Springs and loves bowhunting for elk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like many hunters, he feels a deep respect for and connection with the animals. It\u2019s a sentiment that might seem baffling to non-hunters.<\/p>\n
However, \u201cI\u2019d like to think that anybody would have done the same thing I did\u201d to save the elk, he said. \u201cNo animal deserves to die like that.”<\/p>\n
As a hunter, Wolfe knows that elk usually move at dawn and dusk.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Wolfe came zooming by at mid-morning driving the 70 mph speed limit when he first saw the bull.<\/p>\n
\u201cI drove up to the next ranch pullout and then turned back around for another look,\u201d he said. \u201cHe had probably been there struggling for about five hours, and was just completely exhausted.”<\/p>\n
Elk and other wildlife are a common sight in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s critters everywhere down there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That bodes well for the overall recovery of wildlife there.<\/p>\n