Several ranchers on Colorado’s Western Slope are wondering what happened to cattle they had grazing on U.S. Forest Service land in Montrose County.
The two sections of federal forest leased by the ranchers for summer pasture total 75,000 acres.
Montrose County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Chuck Searcy said that so far, about 180 cattle, mostly branded calves, are considered “missing and stolen,” and possibly more.
“People are still counting and sorting now,” he said.
Searcy said the ranchers have permits for the federal land and typically take the cattle to national forest land on the Uncompahgre Plateau southwest of the city of Montrose to graze in June and July, then start bringing them down in October and November.
Ranchers with cattle with several brands started talking with one another and learned that they were not alone in coming up short for the cattle they had deposited on the national forest land.
Searcy said he was not going to discuss any leads the department has in the investigation, but that ranchers did not find signs predators had taken the cattle, and there were no bodies of mutilated or dead cattle as has been reported in the West periodically over the years.
Crime Scene Hard To Determine
Searcy said trying to pinpoint truck or trailer tracks in the area is nearly impossible.
“This is all public lands,” Searcy said. “We don’t know where the crime scene is.”
Searcy said the department is not releasing the brands that were on the missing cattle yet to better help with the ongoing investigation.
The estimated worth of the missing cattle is $300,000 to $400,000, Searcy said, adding the sheriff’s office has never had to deal with a similar issue during his years at the department.
Wyoming, Too
Missing cattle seems to be an issue in Wyoming as well.
A Glendo-area rancher offered a $5,000 reward last month for information about nine missing cattle from his herd as he brought the cattle in from summer grazing. He also lost five last year.
A meeting of ranchers and local law enforcement officers was held Nov. 20. Organizer and rancher Tim Millikin said the meeting drew nearly 75 people, including 40 producers and ranchers, smaller scale 40-acre homeowners, as well as representatives from the Platte, Converse and Niobrara counties’ sheriff’s offices.
“As far as meetings go, it was a really good meeting,” he said. “The takeaway was for us to let law enforcement know as soon as possible when we find cattle are missing.”
Millikin said sometimes ranchers take time to look for missing cattle themselves or believe they will show up a few days later.
He said law enforcement told the gathering to give them a heads up quickly, and if they find the cattle a few days later just give them a call.
Millikin said he has worked with the Wyoming Livestock Board’s investigator and the Platte County Sheriff’s Office on his losses. To date, he has no lead on the missing cattle.
Getting everyone in the region “on the same page” may help prevent future losses from any rustlers, Millikin said.
“Maybe it will get those guys nervous,” he said.
Rustling Does Happen
Wyoming Livestock Board Director Steve True told Cowboy State Daily in November that the board averages about 45 to 60 reports of missing cattle each year.
“I’m certain that’s not near all of them,” he said. “A lot of them are not reported.”
Often those reports turn into found cattle, either by a brand inspector or by the ranchers themselves who locate them a few days after filing a report, he said.
But rustling cattle does happen, and True said with prices high right now, it provides an opportunity for those whose “incomes are depressed” to resort to thievery.
“One piece of theft that I don’t think gets broadcast enough is just butchering,” True said. “Somebody sees one on the side of the road, nobody’s around, and they get themselves a hind quarter and take off. We find hides, feet and heads scattered around.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
