'People can call you a poacher': Wisconsin man loses Montana hunting privileges for a decade

A Wisconsin man was sentenced Wednesday in Lewis and Clark County District Court for his involvement in the illegal transport and hunting of various animals in multiple counties across Montana.

Dylan Charles Boyer lost his hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for 10 years. He was also trespassed from the Marias River Wildlife Management Area for eight years and was ordered to pay over $20,000 in restitution, among other fines and stipulations in his sentence.

The 23-year-old pleaded guilty in January to four charges.

Boyer was convicted on four of his 10 original charges, including felony unlawful possession, shipping or transportation of game animals, misdemeanor hunting, fishing or trapping without a license or permit, misdemeanor waste of game animals and misdemeanor hunting or killing over limit. Other charges were dismissed with prejudice.

"The bottom line from the court's view is that you stole from the people of Montana and you violated the sanctity of being allowed to hunt in the state," Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Michael McMahon said. "Hunting is a privilege, not a right."

Boyer's attorney, Eric Peabody, highlighted his client's history in hunting and said he grew up a hunter and would hunt with his father, but "he relied upon the advice and recommendations of other Montanans who led him astray."

McMahon told Boyer that if he considered himself a hunter before and during the illegal actions, he should have understood the regulations around it.

"You didn't," McMahon said. "This is a black mark on you. From here on out people can call you a poacher."

During his sentencing hearing, Boyer offered a statement to the court and apologized for his actions.

"I'm sorry I did that in the first place. I'm not even the same person that I was back then. I've been working hard to become a better person and do the right thing all the time," Boyer said. "It's just unfortunate that this has taken so long, but it's also given me time to figure out how to do the right thing and make sure I'm on the right path. I'll make sure I never do anything like this ever again."

On top of Boyer's hunting restrictions, he also received a four-year deferred sentence for the felony poaching charge and a six-month suspended sentence for the waste of game animal charge.

On the felony charge, Boyer admitted to unlawfully transporting illegally killed animals in Lewis and Clark, Jefferson, Toole, Pondera, Deer Lodge and Broadwater counties between Oct. 7, 2022, and Nov. 25, 2023.

He also pleaded guilty to fishing without a license and catching rainbow trout on Oct. 7, 2022, in Lewis and Clark County and illegally hunting elk the next day on the Ueland ARCO Block Management Area in Deer Lodge County.

Additionally, Boyer pleaded guilty to his involvement wasting four brow-tined bull elk on the same block management area on Nov. 18, 2023, when he and co-conspirators left the carcasses after removing just the head and backstrap meat.

The final count he pleaded guilty to was killing an antlered white-tailed deer on the Marias River Wildlife Management Area that was over limit because he had killed an antlered white-tailed deer a month earlier in Deer Lodge County.

Boyer was a part of a group including Maxwell Lawton Krupp, Cameron Ray Wyant and Christian Gerald Wyant that illegally hunted, fished and transported wild game across county lines.

Krupp received six-month suspended sentences and lost his hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for the next four years.

Cameron Wyant lost his hunting privileges for a decade and will pay nearly $20,000 in restitution.

Christian Wyant's next hearing is scheduled in July.