Former Gillette baseball coach Conner Anthony Brown | Gillette Riders Baseball/Facebook
In an effort to circumvent the wildlife laws of the state of Montana, a former ball coach from Wyoming might just learn the hard way that “I still have a place there” is not a residency statute. And while these cases can be a royal pain for wardens to prove, every now and then the tax years and Instagram captions line up just perfectly, giving them enough ammunition to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone lied in order to obtain resident hunting licenses.
That is exactly the allegation against Conner Anthony Brown, a former assistant coach with the Gillette Riders, who is now staring down a felony in Montana for buying resident hunting licenses after he had already moved to Wyoming. Investigators say he used Miles City addresses to purchase resident tags in 2022, 2023, and 2024, then killed a black bear, a mountain lion, and a white-tailed buck.
Now if the state can prove its case, the record should show that he didn’t just cheat a fee schedule, he took animals on licenses he was not entitled to hold.
The story is an all-too-common one. As with most Western states, Montana prices resident tags cheaper, tilts the draws toward people who actually live there, and leaves over-the-counter opportunities on the table for anyone who can still call the Treasure State home. For those that used to live there (or would like to keep pretending they do), a rental property or P.O. box can look like a small lie with a potentially massive payoff.
And therein lies both the pull and the trap.
Rules in Montana surrounding residency are not vague. To be considered a resident, one must establish that with 180 days on the ground and that must be maintained by making the state your principal home for at least 120 days in a calendar year. In the case of our former ball coach, charging documents show that cell phone records put Mr. Brown inside the state of Montana for 168 days in 2022, 136 in 2023, and 98 in 2024. In addition to phone records, social media posts from early 2022 already had him saying he lived in Gillette with his fiancé and was based there. He even went on to post to the world that he had rented his Miles City place out, while living in Wyoming, helping investigators further solidify their case against him.
The penalty structure is why this particular shortcut so often fails. If convicted, Brown’s felony count can carry up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine. That’s before restitution on the animals gets factored in, which could add thousands more, not to mention a potential lifetime hunting suspension that would travel through the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact.
That is the part that most part-timers fail to price in. A couple hundred dollars saved on a tag, surely isn’t worth thousands of dollars worth of fines, a lifetime of closed seasons, seized animals, and a public record that follows every future application.
For now, Brown is still entitled to his day in court and is, of course, innocent until proven guilty. He was arraigned on Tuesday in Lewis and Clark County District Court via Zoom, where standing Master Hannah Roe entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf. His next hearing is scheduled for February 10, 2027.
