Posted on 05/16/2008 6:15:16 AM PDT by george76
Texas businessman Jeff Hawn was charged May 8 in the March slaying of 32 bison near Hartsel and faces one count of class 3 felony theft, one count of class 3 felony criminal mischief and 32 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, each a class 6 felony.
Hawn turned himself in to the Park County Jail on May 12 and bonded out...
Kobe Bryant's attorney
The arrest warrant affidavit indicates that the bison had been killed over the course of a number of weeks.
For instance, it states that on April 1 officers "retrieved a spent bullet from one of the wasted bison carcasses that had been shot weeks prior to the first contact with hunters at the Hawn property."
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation also matched a bullet cartridge case found on Forest Service land near the scene of dead bison to a 30.06 rifle found in Hawn's home.
In a Feb. 25 letter addressed to Antonino Salcedo, Hawn gave permission to Salcedo and his "Atzlan Native Community" colleagues, based in Gardner, Colo., to "remove the buffalo from my ranch."
(Excerpt) Read more at theflume.com ...
If a bison was able to be contained behind a standard 3 wire live fence then I’d agree it’s a form of livestock. They are more like moose in size and behavior. Walking through a 3 wire fence is something that wouldn’t even be noticable for them.
That “local opinion” is a herd of commercial bison on a ranch outside of Greenville, Texas.
3 wire live fence = 3 wire livestock fence
LOL My ranch was 60 miles from Greenville (just west of Paris) and I had never heard anyone speak about them. It’s a small world.
As brucellosis is spread through urine and contaminated water, the carcases on open ground probably do not present a great risk. If it were my place, the dead would not be left laying in an occupied pasture.
there was another post about this, and that information was there, not on this one...sorry...but, he had put up fences
I really don't think that this is about fences. It's notable that he had to go looking for bison to shoot. There were only two on his property, so he went to BLM and other lands. He was looking for trouble, and I'm convinced the the article is not telling the whole story. It sounds like a grudge, since none of the other land owners are complaining.
“In Colorado, the law clearly spells out that it was his responsibility to keep the bison off of his land; not someone elses to keep them on their land.”
How does that work if one of them wanders out in front of my car ?
That’s quite possible though I spoke with a man who lives just 65 miles away and he wasn’t aware of such a theory.
From what I gathered he had given 12 or 14 other men permission to do the actual shooting, but on his land. The question is did these guys know his property borders vs BLM land. If there’s no fenceline what are you going to use as reference points?
As far as the BLM lands go, they literally surround everything here out West. Having BLM border your property isn’t an unusual situation here. I have a friend here in Nevada who can toss a beer can over his side fence and it would land on Federal Property. A serious no-no.
I have never shot a buffalo but I can’t imagine that they would be anymore hardy than a moose as far as requirements needed to bring on down. One or two shots behind the front shoulder should do the trick, I’d imagine. Why there were so many carcasses left lying to rot is what I find incomprehensible. Were these animals wounded and permitted to stagger off without a follow up shot? That is what I find disgustable about the situation.
To think that this could have all been avoided with a couple of cans of pepper spray is enough to get anyone riled up.
It means you’re dead and your insurance will pay the cost of the animal.
That's exactly how our place in Tuolumne county is, except that it is USFS land, and if we don't keep it fenced, the USFS assumes that we are on their land. The previous owner got hit with a $25,000 fine once.
Bison are doing fine on two ranches that I know of in Escalon, without any unusual fencing, and also in Martinez, very close to the 680 freeway. I can't imagine that Colorado brings out the worst in them.
this Atzlan Native Community in Gardner, Colorado calls itsself the Turtle Tribe. On their website they state that they especially welcome the “Xicano tribe” which is a way some militant Chicanos spell it.
So it seems they may be more La Raza, reconquista types than a real native american indian tribe.
free Buffalo steaks .
I wonder what the association was between Hawn and this suspicious sounding group?
He was the one who contacted the tribe in Huerfano County I'm beginning to think the former owner is setting
up Hawn to be able to buy back his land cheap.
And you can take that to the bank!
Setting up a stupid city slicker with more money than brains has always been fair game, hasn't it?
Interesting.
I looked it up on the map. I know where Fairplay, CO is located, but Gardner is quite a distance away for these Aztlan types to paddle in their canoes, or probably drive in their Communist red SUVs.
Thanks :
It was, in the end, a contract killing, a contract massacre.
And the Texas CEO who is alleged to have hired out the hit, it turns out, apparently tired of doing the job himself.
it is only fitting that Antonino Salcedo would meet Jeff Hawn through a chance encounter in this sage-strewn, largely desolate mountain valley community at a place called Papa Joe’s General Store.
He’d walked in and heard John Norman, who once owned Jeff Hawn’s spread and now works it as a caretaker, inquire about “buffalo management.”
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/may/08/johnson-bison-slaying-old-west-feud/
Thanks for the ping, George.
Sounds like Hawn will pretty surely have his hide nailed to the barn over this. Lots of witnesses and that signed letter is going to be difficult for even Pamela to get him off.
His original lawyer that drew up that letter must be a real lame brain. The way I understand what’s been said here on CO law, Hawn doesn’t have a leg to stand.
The former owner of Hawn's property put him in contact with the Illegal Alien activist group
Interesting. Why would he do this? Perhaps Downare wants to grab Hawn's land cheap and is using his Bison and their destructive behavior to drive the former owner and now the new owner, Hawn, off his own land.
Also interesting: on April 1 officers "retrieved a spent bullet from one of the wasted bison carcasses that had been shot weeks prior to the first contact with hunters at the Hawn property."
How big are these ranches? At least one, perhaps all of Downare's livestock are off his ranch for weeks at a time before he notices them gone. Wouldn't all the destroyed fencing give Downare a clue?
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