AH! There was a letter then! What the papers said when it happened was “verbal agreement” sort of thing.
I never have actually HEARD what the shooters themselves had to say. But, they kinda “ain’t guilty”. (I mean they were doing something on private property, thought the animals belonged to the guy and we have several of those places here in Colorado where you go in, buy an animal, shoot it yourself and then it’s yours to take home)
Eight were killed on Bureau of Land Management property,
four on U.S. Forest Service property,
Authorities were first notified of the slaughter on March 19 when the Downares called 911 to report shots being fired at the bison. When deputies arrived, they discovered 14 people shooting at bison. They called a cease-fire and confiscated 12 rifles.
One of the shooters, identified in the affidavit as Antonino Salcedo, immediately turned over a letter written by Stephen Csajaghy, a Denver lawyer, and signed by his client, Jeff Hawn.
No fool, Antonino Salcedo liked the idea of getting free bison meat, but wanted a notarized letter from John Norman granting him and his pals permission for the hunt. It was provided.
On that March 19 morning, though, Salcedo and the others arrived to find at least 16 bison already lying dead, none even remotely dressed out for harvest.
They would shoot others on the Hawn property, adjacent Bureau of Land Management lands and on neighboring property. Investigators found that at least seven of the 16 cow bison killed prior to March 19 were about to calve.