Chuck Wolf is baffled why someone would shoot and kill one of his cows, leaving its calf motherless.

"It's one of those things. It's kind of maddening," he said.

The cow, which gave birth to a calf a few weeks ago, was found dead at the farm in the 200 block of Gravel Hill Road in East Manchester Township early Sunday morning, Northeastern Regional Police said.

Someone shot and killed the black Angus cow using a bow and arrow, said Lt. Howard Daniels.

Since the calf is now without a mother, it has to be hand-fed milk from a bottle. The calf had grown accustomed to its mother's milk, and using a bottle to feed it may be difficult, said farm manager Tupper Sverduk.

"It's going to be tough at this point because it's 4 weeks old," he said.

While the calf will likely survive without its mother's milk, the odds are it won't grow up to be as large as the rest of the cattle.

Shooting: Since the shooting, the calf has been skittish, Sverduk said.

Police believe the cow was shot between 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday.

Sverduk discovered the dead cow in a pasture after he got to the farm Sunday morning.

The arrow was likely fired from a compound bow, Daniels said.

"We don't know what was going through the mind of the person that did this. Whether they thought it would be fun or were drunk and driving past and thought they'd shoot a cow," he said.

The pasture where the cow was shot is along Gravel Hill Road, near the intersection with Long Road. Sverduk guessed the shooter was in a vehicle and stopped to shoot the cow.

There are no hunting grounds in the area, ruling out an accidental shooting, Daniels said.

"We're looking at it as an intentional act," he said.

Reward: It appears the killing was an isolated incident, police said.

"We never had this happen before, so we hope it's a random thing," Daniels said.

Wolf and police are hopeful someone knows who shot the cow contacts police. Wolf has offered at $250 to $300 reward for information that leads to the conviction of the person who killed the cow.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact police at 266-6195, or through neregionalpd.us.

- Reach Greg Gross at 505-5434, ggross@yorkdispatch.com, or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/greggrss.