Authorities and owners still searching for answers after 5 animals are shot

It’s been more than two weeks since five animals were discovered shot on a remote piece of private land in the Chesterfield area, leaving authorities and the animals’ owner searching for answers.

“I think it was a senseless, random act of violence,” rancher Grant Simons said.

Simons and his wife own a ranch with more than 800 cows and bulls, spread out over thousands of acres of land in Southeastern Idaho.

In late May, Simons got a call from a local teenager who watches his cows. He was told three of them had died.

It was unclear what had happened until Simons went up to his plot of land, where he saw the three dead cows and discovered that two bulls had been shot.

“So we investigated the cows and found bullet holes in them too,” he said.

The bulls survived, but the incident still rattled the small community.

It’s the kind of town where neighbors call each other if they see an unfamiliar car and acts like this are uncommon. The specifics of this situation make Simons believe it was premeditated.

“I think somebody went to that area with the intent of doing that,” he said, “because it’s two miles off of the county road, down through a field, down to get to the cattle.”

“So I don’t think they got lost to get there,” he added.

The Hatch area where the carcasses were discovered is truly hard to access. There’s no direct road to the private land and not much nearby. But interestingly, no trace of any kind was discovered.

“We specifically looked for tracks in through the gates and we didn’t find any track of a pickup a car, a four-wheeler, side by side, anything, so my suspect is that they walked in,” Simons said.

Whoever it was and however they got there, Simons has some questions.

“I’d like to know why? What was he thinking when he pulled the trigger I guess, or when he loaded the gun, what was he doing back in there without permission.”

Simons isn’t the only one looking for information, a Facebook posting has more than 11,000 shares and has encouraged people from all across the country to reach out.

In fact, some people have even donated, allowing Simons to double the reward for information from $2,000 to $4,000.

“I would like to identify him, would like him to know that it’s not acceptable,” he said.

For now, he’ll look at replacing the cow’s he’s lost, something he expects to cost him between $12,000-15,000.

The private land which his animals were shot on is usually pretty open to the public for hunting and fishing. Simons said he doesn’t plan on closing it, but he will be more closely monitoring who comes and goes.

The Caribou County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating the matter and anyone with information is encouraged to call them at 208-547-2561.