A Simms man showed up in court last week and quickly learned that simply “wanting enough meat to last the whole year” is not, in fact, a recognized exception to Montana’s waterfowl rules. Following an admission of guilt in the case that saw investigators recover over 220 ducks connected to him and a hunting partner, he’s been slapped with an eight-year suspension of his hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges, a suspended year in jail, and about $4,500 in fines and restitution.
John Carullo was one of two men originally charged in March with felony unlawful possession, shipment, or transportation of game birds after Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks investigators recovered 223 ducks connected to the case. Prosecutors amended Carullo’s charge to two misdemeanors, leading Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Christopher Abbott to follow the plea agreement, imposing a one-year jail sentence, fully suspended, along with the financial penalty and the privilege revocation.
After the eight-year ban ends, Carullo will face an additional five-year restriction on applying for special licenses. While his privileges are revoked, he is also prohibited from accompanying anyone who is hunting, fishing, or trapping.
“This affects migratory birds from Canada all the way down through the United States and to Mexico, so that affects hunters, wildlife enthusiasts,” Lewis and Clark County Attorney Kevin Downs said. “So that they just don’t care and just show up and just kept shooting and shooting until they were caught — just complete disregard.”
Carullo addressed the court at sentencing.
“Like Mr. Downs mentioned, it was shameful, and for the past nine months, I’ve felt a lot of shame for what I did,” he said. “I’d like to apologize to the state and to its residents. I understand where I misstepped there, and I can guarantee it will never happen again.”
The case kicked off back in mid-January when FWP game warden Per Wolfisberg, acting with a landowner’s permission, checked Carullo and Matthew Krekelberg on private land along the Sun River. Before making contact around 10:30 a.m., the warden watched the pair shoot multiple drake mallards. Both men held valid waterfowl licenses at the time, but Wolfisberg found piles of dead ducks and noted that each hunter was carrying two shotguns.
Officers ended up recovering 66 ducks at the scene, and investigators later determined the men had taken about 120 birds over just two days. A subsequent search of Carullo’s shop uncovered even more ducks, which included some freshly killed and others that had already been butchered, pushing the total to 223. Krekelberg admitted to wardens that he had lost count and shot over the limit, explaining it had been a poor hunting year and the pair wanted enough meat to last all year, while Carullo told investigators he had hunted the Sun River Valley 20 to 25 times that season.
With Carullo’s case wrapped up, his partner in-crime Matthew Krekelberg, remains scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing on November 19th.
