Well, if you're going to run one of the largest documented raptor slaughter operations in modern U.S. history, which included baiting deer carcasses, blasting thousands of protected birds out of the sky, and FedExing the tails and mounts across the country for cash, you’d better have a damn good buyer on the other end keeping the lights on.
Enter 71-year-old John Patrick Butler of Humble, Texas.
Butler was not a hunter but a key figure in a multi-year conspiracy that federal investigators say devastated raptor populations on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Court records show he paid hundreds to thousands of dollars per bird or set of feathers via PayPal and other online transfers. In exchange, co-defendants shipped eagle parts, including tails and full mounts, through the U.S. mail from Montana to his home in Texas.
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Montana
This week, the federal government finally wrapped its case against the demand-side degenerate who allegedly kept the whole enterprise humming. Butler, who pleaded guilty back in December to conspiracy, unlawful trafficking of bald and golden eagles, and a Lacey Act violation, finally had his day in court earlier this month. On May 5th, U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen handed him five years of probation and ordered him to cough up $77,500 in restitution. Avoiding prison time (likely due to his age and cooperation), Butler was handed a bit of a slap on the wrist and a bill that, for a guy moving product that could fetch upwards of $1,000 for a tail set, probably feels more like a cost of doing business.
Prosecutors highlighted text messages in which Butler specifically requested fresh kills, once asking a supplier, “Did u ever see any crispy ones yet?”
The broader ring was led by Travis John Branson, 49, of Cusick, Washington (formerly of the Flathead Reservation), and involved co-defendant Simon Paul, who remains a fugitive in Canada. Branson and others hunted and killed approximately 3,600 protected birds, including at least 118 eagles and 107 hawks, on the reservation and elsewhere between 2015 and 2021.
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Montana
Branson, who bragged in texts about being “on a killing spree” and “out here committing felonies,” was sentenced in October 2024 to 46 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a whopping $777,250 in restitution.
“We are going to feel the impacts of the Flathead Reservation’s raptor loss for years to come,” Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Chairman Mike Dolson said in a statement after Branson’s sentencing. “We hope this helps put a stop to illegal poaching on our homelands and gives these birds a chance to recover. Eagles are not only a treasured and important part of the Reservation’s ecosystem, but they also have a profound place in CSKT cultural and spiritual practices.”
The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana.
“The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act was enacted in 1940 to protect the bald eagle, recognizing that the bald eagle is not merely a bird of biological interest, but this country’s national symbol, which reflects America’s ideals of freedom,” the Attorney’s Office wrote.
