RODEO QUEEN'S HORSE SHOT ON FIRST DAY OF HUNTING SEASON

[mahatmakanejeeves]

RODEO QUEEN’S HORSE SHOT ON FIRST DAY OF HUNTING SEASON
October 30, 2019 at 5:00 am | By KIANNA GARDNER and BRENDA AHEARN Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office is seeking any information related to a tragic domestic animal shooting that occurred west of Marion off U.S. 2, in which a woman’s horse was shot through its shoulder and later had to be euthanized.

It was around 3:30 in the afternoon on Saturday, Oct. 26, when Kristina Gregersen, owner of the horse and a former Northwest Montana Pro Rodeo Queen, pulled into her residence. Shortly after her return, Gregersen said she was walking toward her pasture to prepare her horses for Saturday night’s winter storm when she realized something was gravely wrong.

“I began counting, one, two, three, four, [but] there are five horses,” Gregersen recalled.

She located her fifth horse, a 19-year-old buckskin American Quarter Horse nicknamed “Diva,” lying on the ground near the meadow’s small, solitary tree.

As Gregersen approached, she said she could smell blood and upon further inspection realized Diva, her prized competition horse and “best friend,” had suffered a major gunshot wound.
....

She said the bullet had entered Diva’s left shoulder and exited the right, causing internal bleeding and severe and irreparable damage to the animal’s right leg, which Gregersen described as being “torn off.” It was evident Diva was suffering, so Gregersen proceeded to call her neighbor to the property where he assisted in euthanizing Diva.
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Kristina recalls a truck carrying at least two younger-looking men watched her approach Diva from their parked location on U.S. 2. She said she remembers the vehicle — believed to be a gray Toyota Tundra extended-cab pickup — raced away moments after she reached the horse.

Gregersen also said her neighbors captured footage of what they believe to be the same pickup truck on their security cameras. The neighbors noticed the vehicle driving back and forth near the property, “acting strangely,” she added.

Based on security camera footage, the Gregersens believe Diva was shot between 1:30 and 2 p.m. on Saturday, more than an hour and a half before Kristina arrived home.
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Anyone with information regarding the shooting or vehicle described, a gray extended-cab pickup truck, most likely a Toyota Tundra or similar make and model, has been asked to contact the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office at 406-758-5585.

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or [e-mail]

[2naSalit]

1. Good guys with gunz?

This is a problem in Montana. Often it's the elk hunt in the southern mountains where shooting from the vehicle is done and in some locations it's more like a firing squad firing into a herd. They only go and retrive the ones that fall down and don't trouble themselves to go find and finish off the wounded. It's locals and out-of-staters both. And then there are the assholes who shoot at anything that moves and only find out later that it wasn't what they have a tag for.

This sounds like not only a private property issue - hunting on private property - but also using overkill in weaponry as well as shooting livestock while it was on private property and shooting from the road onto private property. If they get caught, I hope all hunting rights are taken away for life.

I wish there could be, like CDL drivers' licenses, a nationwide database for all poaching offenses so that these shitnecks can be known in every state so they can't gain access to firearms or hunting licenses.

Rifle season opened yesterday, expect more stoopid to come.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Damn! I'm no horse lover myself, but I know plenty who are and this...

is devastating.

Gregersen, still tearful as she recounted the ordeal on Tuesday, described the scene as a “gruesome, horrific mess.”

“She seemed to look up at me as if to say ‘oh good, you’re here now, you can fix this,’ but I knew I wasn’t calling anyone to fix her. I was calling for someone to keep her from hurting anymore,” Gregersen said.

In the comments, a few people compare this to horse stealing. And we know what they used to do with horse thieves...

It's a beautiful horse, too.

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[Bayard]

3. Damn.....

I can't imagine the pain. I know how bad it is finding three of mine who have died from natural causes in the past 5 years. Its horrible.

But this is why I don't let my horses down in the lower pasture next to the road at night, or if I'm going to be gone for awhile. Deer season will be open here soon, so that's always an additional worry.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

4. This is despicable.

All my sympathies to Kristina Gregerson.