Park elk poachers sentenced

Two Browning men recently were sentenced to probation and restitution for their role in shooting and killing four elk last year inside Glacier National Park.

Matthew Whitegrass, 20, and Benjamin Yellow Owl, 21, pleaded guilty to violating the federal Lacey Act and were sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Strong in federal court in Great Falls on July 10. Each was sentenced to two years probation, $3,500 restitution and forfeiture of their firearms.

According to court records, a Park ranger reported hearing gunshots near the St. Mary Visitor Center in the early evening of Dec. 30, 2011. The ranger said he drove to the area of the gunshots and saw a red truck driving across a meadow.

The ranger stopped the truck as it left the meadow and came back on the road. He identified Whitegrass and Yellow Owl and found two rifles in the vehicle, a Ruger M77 .30-06 and a Stevens Model 200 .243-caliber.

A second Park ranger searched the meadow and found three dead elk with gunshot wounds. The next morning, the ranger found a fourth dead elk with gunshot wounds.

Whitegrass and Yellow Owl allegedly told the rangers they shot several times at the elk in the meadow with the intent of capturing the elk carcasses for meat. Hunting is prohibited inside Glacier Park.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between Park law enforcement officials and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Elk often winter on the flats near St. Mary Lake where high winds keep the grasses relatively free of snow. In February, Park officials closed three areas around the lake to off-trail travel from Dec. 1 through May 15 to protect winter range land.

Those areas include a mile-long area at the foot of St. Mary Lake, a four-mile long area in the Two Dog Flats area and a mile-plus long area near Rising Sun Campground.

The last high-profile poaching case in Glacier Park occurred in January 2000 when two men allegedly killed and decapitated two bighorn rams near Spot Mountain, in the Two Medicine area. Bailey Peterson, who cited an 1896 treaty and maintained he had the right to hunt inside the Park, was convicted of two felony counts of violating the Lacey Act. Glenn Hohmann was acquitted after testifying he was unaware he was inside the Park.