I’d say that Hawn has a problem on his hands. If he’d shot only animals on his land, he might have a defense in court, since the USFWS, as well as ranchers surrounding Yellowstone, regularly shoot bison that get outside the park boundaries. The reason why is that it is nigh on impossible to push them from horseback or ATV’s where you want them to do. If you really get ‘em stirred up, they’re going to cause serious injury or death to anyone that gets in their way.
So if he’d shot ONLY those animals that had broken through a fence onto his land, or better yet, called the county sheriff and had the LEO’s have a go at trying to push them (and likely ultimately resorting to shooting them), then he’d be in the clear. And were I in his boots, I’d have called the law in and said “See this animals? They ain’t mine. Get ‘em out of here.”
But as I’m reading your information, the bison were found dead not only on Hawn’s land, but also out on BLM land, yes?
Then two things are obvious:
1. Downare isn’t feeding those animals if they’re wandering out all over the place, and
2. Hawn is in heap big trouble. So are the clowns he hired or pulled in as triggermen.
Of the 32 bison killed, only eight were shot on the Hawn property.
The other dead bison were found / shot on other private property and nearby federal lands.
Could be BLM and also USFS ?
The shooters are also in big trouble for many different reasons. They better lawyer up, too.