| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article - 10/02/99 |
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| Koelzer
charged in bison shooting
By Scott McMillion - Chronicle Staff Writer
10/02/99
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West
Yellowstone resident Dale Koelzer has been accused of
three crimes for allegedly killing a bison on his property
just outside Yellowstone National Park on Monday.
He did it because the animal made him "mad,"
according to the complaint filed Friday in Gallatin County
Justice Court.
Koelzer, who has lived in the area for decades, faces
charges of possession of an illegally killed game animal,
waste of a game animal and unlawful hunting during a closed
season.
If convicted of all misdemeanor charges, Koelzer could
face jail time and fines of as much as several thousand
dollars, Deputy County Attorney Todd Whipple said. He
did not know Koelzer's age.
Koelzer, in a brief phone interview, denied doing anything
illegal.
"The buffalo wasn't killed illegally," he said.Though
it wasn't harassing livestock at the time, he said, "it
was harassing my truck. It was ready to attack. Do you
wait for it do do several thousand dollars worth of damages
or do you act first?"
He also disputed wasting the bison's carcass when he left
it in the field beyond his home. He accused both the Montana
Department of Livestock and the Montana Department of
Fish, Wildlife and Parks of wasting carcasses in the past
when they killed bison that wandered out of Yellowstone.
He said the bull bison was "pretty close" when
he shot it and then ended the interview.
Whipple's complaint, which was based on a recommendation
from FWP wardens, said warden Jim Miller first contacted
Koelzer Wednesday, after members of the protest group
Buffalo Field Campaign found the carcass and showed Miller
a videotape of it.
"Koelzer said (to Miller) that he had heard shots
a couple nights ago and then saw the dead buffalo,"
Whipple's affidavit says.
On Thursday, Miller obtained a search warrant for Koelzer's
property and seized the carcass. Miller then found a drag
trail about 200 yards long that led to the kill site about
150 yards from Koelzer's house. There was a bloody paper
towel at the scene.
Later Thursday, Rob Tierney and Arnold Gertonson, of DOL,
called Miller and told him that Koelzer had called them
the previous night and told them he had shot the buffalo.
DOL uses Koelzer's property to run a bison trap and has
leased his basement for employee housing.
Miller then met with Koelzer and he admitted to shooting
the bison.
He said it had been "bothering" horses belonging
to Kellie Nunnes the previous week.
On Monday, Koelzer was in his pickup and "the buffalo
had turned like it was going to take the pickup. This
made (Koelzer) mad so he shot the buffalo with a 30/06
rifle behind the ear," the affidavit says.
After he shot it he offered the head and cape to Nunnes,
who accepted and helped him cape and skin the animal.
Koelzer then "dragged the buffalo away from his residence
so the bears could eat it," the affidavit said.
Koelzer gave the hide and cape to the game wardens.
"The worst situation that can happen is to have an
animal blatantly wasted," said Warden Capt. Jim Kropp.
"It's unacceptable to us and unacceptable to the
public."
Landowners are allowed to shoot bison immediately threatening
livestock, but "I don't think that's an issue"
in this case, Kropp said. In any case, they are required
to contact DOL immediately.
Kropp said his staff has accommodated Koelzer in the past
by hazing bison from his property, shooting them or allowing
hunters to shoot them when the state still had a public
bison hunt.
"We have removed a lot of them on Mr. Koelzer's property,"
Kropp said. "We are generally empathetic with the
damage caused by these bison."
The carcass was found approximately 75 feet from the DOL
bison trap, which has been used for the last several winters.
Several protesters have been arrested for trespassing
on his property, which straddles a migration corridor
used by bison leaving the park.
Buffalo Field Campaign called on DOL to end its relationship
with Koelzer.
"I don't see how the Montana DOL can continue to
associate with Koelzer and give taxpayer dollars"
to him, the group's founder, Mike Mease, said in a press
release.
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