GREAT FALLS – Two Browning men have been sentenced to two years’ probation and were ordered to pay $3,500 after they pleaded guilty to poaching elk in Glacier National Park.
A U.S. Attorney’s Office statement says U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Strong sentenced 20-year-old Matthew Whitegrass and 21 year-old Benjamin Yellow Owl Tuesday in Great Falls.
The men pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act.
Prosecutors say a park ranger heard gunshots near the St. Mary Visitor Center on Dec. 30. He stopped a truck with Whitegrass and Yellow Owl inside with two rifles and spent ammunition casings. Another ranger found three dead elk in a meadow and a fourth one later.
The two men told officials that they were hunting the elk for their meat. Hunting is not allowed within Glacier National Park.