A producer lost several bison to an authorized hunt in mid-October that has been linked to a business deal gone wrong

Glacier FarmMedia – The president of the Manitoba Bison Association says producers can take lessons from a recent incident that culminated in an unauthorized bison hunt on a Binscarth-area ranch without the landowner’s knowledge.
In mid-October, rancher Brendan Liske reported to police that several of his bison had been shot, ranch locks had been changed and that he had trail camera footage of people in a truck and on a quad dragging bison carcasses away.
He was later made aware of a social media ad offering a bison hunt on his property — an ad he did not post.
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On Oct. 17, RCMP released a statement that charges had been laid in relation to the incident. It was initially reported that six bison had been killed. Liske has since said a seventh has been found. That additional animal has not yet appeared in an RCMP report.
A 52-year-old Portage la Prairie man, Gerald Sean Gebler, has been charged with theft over $5,000 and mischief over $5,000. It was a name Liske recognized. He bought bred bison cows from Gebler earlier this year.
Text messages shared with Glacier FarmMedia detail a dispute over the sale.
Liske received six animals in late April. In an interview, the rancher said the seller was asking $9,000 for those animals but, being leery of buying sight unseen, Liske said he offered an initial deposit of $5,000, with the remainder to follow once cows calved.
Text messages show a deposit was transferred after delivery of the animals.
Soon after receiving the animals, Liske expressed concern over their condition. They looked thin, he texted the seller, and did not look like they were bred. The bulls were “going crazy over them,” he added.
Liske was assured that it was just early in the season and that the bulls might be reacting to the newness of the herd additions.
At that point, Gebler told Liske that, if there were any problems, the animals could be exchanged. Only one animal calved.
Liske also had concerns about the breed of the animals. He runs Wood bison, and told Glacier FarmMedia he was not interested in Plains genetics.
When Liske inquired about different coloured ear tags on the animals, Gebler said green tags indicate Woods crosses, while yellow tags were Plains heifers. But in a later text, after Liske complained that he had been duped about the breed, Gebler said yellow tags with four digits were Plains, three digits conveyed pure Wood genetics and green tags were 75 per 100 per cent Wood genetics, and that Liske couldn’t have “more than 1 plains.”
Gebler also said all bulls used were registered Wood bison.
The shared texts did not show original details of the sale or whether Gebler promised 100 per cent pure Wood bison genetics, although Liske noted in a July text that he had “only wanted bred woods.”
By early July, Liske wanted to end the relationship rather than pursue an exchange. Text messages show that Liske requested a “full 5k refund,” and that Gebler could pick up the purchased animals.
Making those arrangements proved difficult. Liske spent part of the summer away from the farm, and was trying to secure access to a handling and sorting system, which he was reluctant to buy because he was moving to British Columbia. Gebler had also offered to get the animals using his own set up.
As of July 24, Liske said he would have a rented system once a moving date was confirmed. He told Glacier FarmMedia his herd was still on the land when the hunt happened because his move to B.C. had been postponed.
Gebler could not be reached for comment.
In a CBC article published Oct. 19, Gebler denied posting an ad for a hunt at Liske’s farm, although he said he had posted an ad for help recovering the bison, and disputed that Liske had paid him the full $5,000.
The same story cited a July 3 text, not shared with Glacier FarmMedia, saying that Liske would leave the disputed animals after moving the rest of his herd, and that Gebler could then “do what you gotta do” to get the animals out, although if shooting was involved, all of Liske’s herd needed to be gone first.
Liske said it’s hard for him to imagine how Gebler interpreted the interaction as permission to hunt the bison.
“All I stated to him was … that I wanted the bison picked up when it was convenient for me.”
Manitoba Bison Association president Robert Johnson stressed that livestock buyers need to do their homework.
“If you’re purchasing something, it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about a used car or a set of tires you see on Kijiji; do the due diligence,” he said.
“And if you’re investing significant money into it, know who you’re dealing with and what exactly you’re purchasing.”
Johnson said when producers are buying bred cows, a pregnancy check should be one of the top requirements, particularly when it comes to bison. While cattle typically show physical signs of pregnancy about halfway through their gestation period, bison often don’t show until the end of the third trimester.
A pregnancy check for bison involves the same process as it does for cattle. Manual rectal palpation is an accurate and trusted method, but ultrasound has become more common in recent years.
“You have to have the facilities to handle bison, like a hydraulic squeeze chute, or some way to restrain them, so it’s safe for the veterinarian to get behind the animal,” Johnson said.
Blood tests are also effective but, because samples must be sent to a lab for analysis, results aren’t immediate.
“If you’re going through the biosecurity risk of introducing new animals to your herd, you should probably invest in a pregnancy test,” said Johnson. “If you’re taking someone’s word on it, then it’s buyer beware.”
If a producer has a preference for breed, genetic testing should also be pursued.
“To the everyday person, Wood bison and Plains bison are indistinguishable. You’d have to be a specialist in phenotypical differences to tell them apart.”
Those differences can show up in the height, location of the hump, length of tail and where the cape starts and finishes. When it comes to crosses, physical differentiation is almost impossible.
“If it’s a case where it’s a cross between a Wood and a Plains, then you really don’t know,” Johnson said. “They can exhibit characteristics of both.”
The incident is an outlier for the sector, he added. The bison sector is a small community, and trust and relationships are big parts of transactions. Even for a newcomer to the business, Johnson said reasonable steps can be taken to understand who you’re doing business with.
“If a person has been doing this for 25 years and comes highly recommended from two or three other people, you could take their word,” he said. “But if you’re dealing with somebody who doesn’t have that track record, it’s no different than any other business. We don’t live in a handshake world anymore.”
So far, charges laid in the case are property offences. The RCMP has said nothing about the legality of hunting bison on private property, although Manitoba regulations preclude on-farm livestock slaughter for the commercial sale of meat, with some exceptions for poultry.
Kaitlyn Mitchell, a lawyer with the animal advocacy group Animal Justice, said she has reached out to the provincial Animal Health and Welfare branch, believing that other charges should be on the table.
“There’s a captive hunting regulation in Manitoba, and I can’t see any scenario in which this would be legal,” she said.
That act specifically mentions bison. A bison can only be killed in a captive hunting scenario by or on behalf of the owner, “in a manner consistent with methods and standards recognized within the agricultural industry for bison,” and in a confined area no more than a quarter of an acre.
Mitchell said she has sympathy for the people who joined the hunting party because they were obviously misled, but she’s surprised they didn’t see any red flags.
“This seems clearly illegal to me, and I’m surprised that no one realized that before they went ahead with these plans.”
