[etcetera]

This guy would buy a house next to the airport, then complain about the noise.

[jimkress]

Knudson doesn't understand why he shouldn't be allowed to protect his property, his mother and himself. Despite living here off and on since grade school, he said he didn't know he would get in trouble for shooting cows on his property.

It costs money to be stupid. Next time, make sure you CLOSE THE GATE!

[tortoise]

This guy was a dumbass; you don't show up in someone else's part of the country and do something like this while remaining completely ignorant of the law. He had to know he was taking a risk.

If you move out in the open range country, you either need to get with the program or move back to the suburbs. I have no sympathy for people like this.

[Consort]

I wonder what the guys screen name here is.

[tertiary01]

I just brought some property in this area "dirt cheap" as a result of many ranchers are getting their grazing permits cancelled. In most of these areas every other square mile is state or federal lands, with primarily private cattle Cos. in between. When the Gov. revokes their grazing permits, they no longer can afford to graze cattle, so the cattle co. sells their acreage, it is subdivided and sold, creating a lot of ranchettes. There goes the nice wide open spaces of which the Cattle Cos. have been the main stewards.

[Malsua]

Why didn't he just use some bird shot?

Very very little risk of killing the cows, but it'd damn sure get their attention.

In fact, a couple shotgun blasts OVER their heads would have done wonders.

[Malsua]

Oh and I have to say...

I read "Cow Shooting Sparks"

and clicked the link. I said to myself "I gotta see this!"

Was figuring it to be some methane thing around open fires or something.

[Newbomb Turk]

Rock salt would have solved this problem a lot better than hot lead.
Move along little doggies.

We had a little old lady around here shot some people with rock salt who were parked on her farmland smoking pot.

The hospital called the sherriff who after the investigation charged the pair with trespassing.

[SSN558]

The other part of the code of the West was ignored by this guy. Shoot, Shovel, and Shutup. He's going to jail for jacking his jaws.

[Rytwyng]

Felony charges are a bit excessive for this guy. Biblical justice would be better:

Exodus 22:1 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

Five times the replacement cost of the cow ought to settle the matter.

[PokeyJoe]

"Your honor, my client is a recent immigrant to the grest Southwest. He comes from a faraway place - Miami. He doesn't know what a deer looks like. He was only told that deer usually walk in groups, and that they eat tomato plants, spinach leaves, and most any garden vegetable known in these parts. Your honor, my client acted in defense of his property - his first garden. He shot that deer... errr ... cow... because it was munching on a tomoto plant. He is sorry that the rancher lost a cow, and he'll be glad to pay to hve the beast properly butchered. Further, he has offered to buy a BBQ smoker, and has offered to smoke the beast for the enjoyment of his neighbors consumption, should they wish to partake. As to the rancher to whom the beast belonged, my client offers payment for the beast and her calf at the current market price. My client regrets killing the deer ... eerrr .... cow, and is now mindful of what a cow looks like, and is taking lessons on "livestock identification."

[brityank]

Moron!

Gate Latch & Cattle Guard

Cattle Guard
All drive-over cattle gates are 5' wide with five I-beams and two channels - one at each end. Top rails are nine 2 3/8: dia. tubes. Tubes are locked in place by a flat piece of steel which is bolted to each channel.

[joesnuffy]

You failed to close your gate
when you live there...and you are a newby
you gotta live by others rules..dont come and try to change the rules..
you dont like them live somewhere else
turn the damage in to your homeowners

[muir_redwoods]

He should do what they do here in Connecticut. He should claim he thought it was a deer. The defense is tried once or twice each hunting season when somebody looses a cow, large dog or horse. It was even tried a few years ago when some moron shot a 6'4" game warden who was dressed in flame orange.

The jury didn't buy that one.

[B Knotts]

The urbanites who move out to open-range territory and complain about cattle roaming free, are the self-same minivan-driving, mall-shopping, gun-fearing idiots that let their dogs run loose to attack livestock.

[tet68]

The man is an idiot.

Notice he refuses to close his gate still, that in itself
tell you he wants another incident.

All he had to do was keep his gate closed in the first place.

[Old Professer]

Buried in the story is the fact that the guy left his gate open and the cows simply walked in.

Had he left his windows down in the rain would anyone sympathize with him for having to replace a ruined carpet?

The idea of open-range is based on the basic fact that cows will graze wherever they find grass and can't be taught to stay at home.

A sensible person would have called the neighbor who owned the cows and helped him get them back home where they belonged; instead, the foolish fellow started a feud.

Generally, these things don't go to incarceration; a settlement can and should be made along with a public apology to the human race for poor representation.

[Mulder]

Charging him with a felony is ridiculous, especially if he didn't even know what the law was.

He and the owner of the cow should sit down and discuss terms of settlement and any other 'misunderstandings'.

And if that fails, there are civil courts to resolve the issue.