Steer Calf Found Dead in Highland Mountains – State, Department of Livestock Investigating

State investigators are searching for answers after a steer calf was found butchered in a remote area on U.S. Forest Service land. District Investigator Ted Wall with the Department of Livestock said the calf was found in the Highland Mountains between Butte and Whitehall.

"A local Whitehall area rancher called us and they had been up in the Highland Mountains outside of Butte and about on the 10th [of August], they found a butchered Black Angus steer calf," Wall said. "The animal had been shot in the head. The people had walked up, slit its throat to bleed him out, and then they took the front shoulders and both hind quarters. They left the rest of it to rot."

Wall concluded that this cow was shot purely for the meat.

"This guy's calf last year when it went to market averaged $1,776. This calf is probably going to be right in there. It's a pretty big hit when a rancher loses one," Wall said. "Along with losing a calf, he's losing money that it takes to run that calf and cow up there for the summer."

Officials are offering a $3,000 reward and the rancher is offering another $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.