Mitchell Wolfe is no stranger to seeing elk while driving oilfield roads south of Rock Springs, Wyoming, but according to the Cowboy State Daily, when he spotted a massive bull lying unnaturally still along the highway last November, something felt off enough that he turned his truck around—only to realize the animal wasn’t dead, just utterly exhausted with its leg hopelessly tangled in barbed wire.
Wolfe grabbed tools, spent the next 15 minutes carefully cutting the bull free, talked to him, splashed water on his face, said a quiet prayer, and drove off hoping the elk wouldn’t still be there the next day, and when he passed by Sunday morning to find nothing but empty ground, he knew the bull had gotten up and walked away on his own—no drama, no spotlight, just a hunter doing what felt right.
Photo credit: Mitchell Wolfe
