An investigation into the shooting and killing of 32 bison in South Park may conclude by the end of next week and a decision made on whether to present a case for filing to the district attorney’s office, officials said.
“The decision will affect a lot of lives in our community and is not being taken lightly,” said Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener.
A Colorado Division of Wildlife plane carrying a sheriff’s department photographer and a DOW pilot flew over hundreds of acres of South Park today.
Undersheriff Monte Gore said the photographer is taking pictures of the areas where the bison carcasses and remains were discovered by investigators last week. Gore said the remains have yet to be removed.
He said the crew of the DOW plane is attempting to find other bison that may have been killed but not yet found by ground crews.
Last week, 14 men suspected of shooting and killing the bison were questioned by authorities.
The bison were owned by ranchers Monte and Tracy Downare but were killed over a wide area, including on the nearby Hawn Ranch, other private land and on Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service parcels.
Gore said the men had set up camp in and around the old ranch house on the Hawn Ranch. The group’s weapons were confiscated by investigators.
The men claimed they had permission to hunt the bison.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents and forensic experts are analyzing bullets, bullet fragments and other forensic evidence taken from the bison.
The shootings happened just days after Austin, Texas, businessman Jeff Hawn filed suit in Park County District Court claiming that the Downares’ bison were stampeding on his property in South Park.
Hawn, who identifies himself as 50 percent shareholder and manager of Wateredge Properties, claims that “herds” of the Downares’ bison had repeatedly broken through fences erected to keep the buffalo off Wateredge property, damaging or destroying the fences in 50 places.
Gore said today he wasn’t sure whether investigators had spoken to Hawn. But he said authorities have located the caretaker of the Hawn Ranch and will be conducting interviews with him.
The undersheriff said authorities aren’t releasing the name of the caretaker or the person the hunters said they received permission from.
“This is a complex and multifaceted investigation,” said Gore. “There is a lot of work to do to get to the truth.”
Stephen Csajaghy, a lawyer for the Denver law firm of Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons, which represents Hawn, said that neither he nor Hawn would comment on the situation.
The Downares have said that although they would like to comment on the situation, they have been asked by Sheriff Wegener not to because of the ongoing criminal investigation.
Gore said today that the Downares “have been very helpful and cooperative.”
The Downares are expected to file a response to Hawn’s allegations next week.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
