Dead Dogs and Dark Hippies

My family and I frequent a stretch of state land. We like it because it's an easy hike for the kids and it allows us to spend some time out in nature. The only odd thing is that we keep finding dead dogs near the parking area. Several looked like coyotes, but a couple have been domestic dogs. One had an obvious gunshot to the vitals. This happens enough that my young daughter refers to the area as "The Dead". I figured one of the local farmers was getting rid of marauding coyotes and the occasional stray. Last week my son and I were on our way to the range when I noted a car at "The Dead". We drove past and observed two individuals and a large dead dog. Both guys had long hair in bandanas, beards, and scruffy clothing. Hippies as it were. But there was something off about them. They both eyeballed us as we went past and I felt really uneasy, even though I was loaded for war and probably could have reduced them and their car to a wet spot in the dirt. After we passed I looked in the rear view and observed them crossing the road to the private property side. Went we came back later the dead dog was gone. I suspect that they moved it to the other side of the road because we caught them mid dump. My son referred them as "Dark Hippies", which describes them quite well. Anyone ever encounter something like this?