A Platte County rancher is looking for the person(s) responsible for killing two of his cattle and field dressing one of them for the meat.
Kansas City Police tell us it happened between 5:00 p.m. Monday and 8:00 a.m. Tuesday.
Wayne Steinmeir owns 67 head of cattle and has been ranching his whole life. During his morning rounds, he saw the drag marks and tracks from three different sets of boots.
Steinmeir believes the poachers got onto his property by walking about a mile down Coookingham Drive, then going into the ranch.
"And I seen some drag marks in the snow and I drove over by there and I seen some foot tracks and I knew there wasn't supposed to be anyone else in this pasture except me and the man who helps me," said Steinmeir. "So I started following the drag marks and it came right through the timber here and all the way to this carcass."
A Platte County game warden found bullets that he believes are from a .45 caliber handgun in both the carcass and the dead cow on the property.
In his 29 years at the position, he says he has never seen cattle killed and stripped of the meat.
It was not a quick operation.
According to Steinmeir, each cattle weighs about 1300 pounds and roughly 600 of that is meat.
Both he and the game warden who came out to investigate say the field dressing was clean and had to be done by someone with experience.
"I got an idea that's not the first time they've poached. They took that animal and they field dressed it like a professional."
The job would take several hours to complete.
Steinmeir estimates the losses of his two cattle, who both recently birthed calves, is approximately $6,000.
He's offering a reward of $5,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
KCPD is asking that anyone who could aid in the investigation call 816-234-5540 and speak to the north property crimes division.
--------
Dia Wall can be reached at dia.wall@kshb.com.
