3 bulls, 3 bucks, 31 charges: Montana suspects accused of Elkhorn Mountains poaching spree (2024)

Three people have been chargedwith a host of hunting violations following a yearlong investigation led by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Prosecutors in Broadwater County say two of the defendants illegally harvested three six-point bull elk with rifles during the 2023 archery season in Hunting District 380, which covers the Elkhorn Mountains and where permits to harvest a bull elk can only be obtained through a lottery process with extremely narrow chances.

Broadwater county prosecutors said the two primarily involved, Tylor Castona and Alisha Byrd, also poached three whitetail buck deer near Townsend in the following month. One of those deer was shot at night and left on the ground for waste when the landowner turned his lights on to investigate the gunshots around midnight. The landowner called FWP that night, triggering an investigation that uncovered the alleged poaching spree ofdeer, elk and a spike bull elk taken over the two-month period.

As measured by an FWP game warden, one of those bucks met the regulatory criteria to be considered a trophy, meaning the defendants could face additional $8,000 in restitution if convicted of the charge relating to that buck.

According to charges filed Oct. 8, Castona and Byrd of East Helenaface a combined 29 criminal counts and both are facing felony tampering with witness charges for allegedly attempting to coordinate their stories ahead of interviews with game wardens investigating the case. Castona faces an additional felony tampering charge for deleting GPS waypoints on the mapping tool OnX Maps once they learned game wardens were investigating the case.

Aside from the felony tampering charges, Castona is accused of two counts of hunting without a license, four counts of unlawful possession or transportation of a game animal, four counts of killing over the limit, two counts of unlawful use of artificial light while hunting, two counts of illegal transfer of hunting licenses, one count of waste of a game animal and one count of failing to obtain a landowner's permission to hunt.

Byrd, beyond the felony tampering charge, is accused of hunting without a license, three counts of unlawful possession or transportation of a game animal, two counts of unlawfully transferring hunting licenses, killing over the limit, two counts of wasting a game animal and one count of failing to obtain a landowner's permission to hunt.

Charging documents filed in Broadwater County against the pair, following multiple interviews with the defendants, lay out the events as such:

In early October 2023, weeks before the rifle season opened, Byrd told investigators she was with Castona when she shot a six-point bull in the Elkhorn Mountains when she did not have a permit to hunt bull elk there.Only 0.94% of hunters who applied for that tag drew it in the 2023 season.

The two placed a GPS marker on the spot, and drove to Helena to pick up Tracer Castona, Tylor's nephew,to help them retrieve the bull elk. Tracer Castona faces two misdemeanor charges in Broadwater County Justice Court for his alleged role in retrieving the animal.

On the return drive to recover first bull elk that night, Tylor Castona shot another six-point bull that crossed the road. According to charging documents, Castona turned his headlights into the field and shot it with a rifle.

Byrd also told investigators Castona killed the third six-point bull earlier that year during archery season in another Helena area hunting district managed for hunter opportunity on mature bull elk. A GPS marker for this area investigators were able to retrieve from Castona's OnX account was created on Sept. 17.

Byrd also used her general elk tag on a spike bull elk in the Elkhorn Mountains in late October, but she told investigators the elk was too far away and Castona shot and killed it.

Law enforcement's first foray into the alleged poaching activities came just after midnight on Nov. 15, 2023. A landowner called the FWP tip line to report a person had fired at a deer in their headlights near Beaver Creek Road. The vehicle fled when the landowner flipped his lights on, but the landowner recorded a video of the red pickup in retreat, according to charging documents.

Montana Highway Patrol and an FWP game warden responded to the area, and the trooper, Eric Arnold, pulled a red pickup over for traveling 73 miles per hour in a 65-mph zone. Castona and Byrd were in the pickup, both wearing hunting clothes, according to court documents. The two denied being in the area of the reported night hunting but said they had successfully harvested an elk on private land earlier that day.

Warden Troy Hinck met the property owner and found a dead whitetail buck in the field, as well as an elk carcass disposed of further down the road. Hinck noted that road had recently been graded, and matched the tire tracks from the elk to the scene of the dead buck, according to court documents.

FWP investigators interviewed Castona at his home in East Helena on Nov. 16; he denied shooting an animal on Beaver Creek Road or driving in that area. In a second interview, Castona changed his story, according to prosecutors, now admitting to driving on Beaver Creek Road but claiming he saw someone else shooting at the deer, and that he only went to the area to check on the activity.

The following day, Byrd called Warden Hinck and said she and Castona had killed elk on public lands earlier that season, and that she and Castona had killed two whitetail bucks on a section of state land, according to court documents. The officers had noted two large whitetail deer heads, each five-point bucks, at Castona's residence.

Byrd said she and Castona shot the deer with a single rifle, and Hinck responded with doubt that they had shot two large whitetail bucks with a single rifle in the daytime.

On Nov. 20, Hinck obtained a search warrant and seized three elk antler sets, all six-point bulls, and two whitetail deer antler sets, both five-point bucks, according to charging documents.

Byrd voluntarily met with FWP investigators again in December, this time admitting Castona had beamed his headlights into the field near Beaver Creek Road before shooting a buck, according to court records. Castona went to find the deer, but returned to the pickup and fled when the landowner turned the lights on, she told them.

Byrd reportedly told investigators she and Castona had colluded to create a story regarding another vehicle in the area where the buck was shot, prosecutors wrote in charging documents. The two five-point bucks were likewise both shot by Castona while he was hunting alone, Byrd told investigators, although she agreed to put her deer tag on one of the bucks, according to charging documents.

In this interview, Byrd reported the incidents in which she and Castona had illegally killed the bull elk. Investigators recovered waypoints Castona created but later deleted on OnX; charging documents repeatedly describe these points helped confirm the incidents Byrd reported to law enforcement.

All three people charged in the spree pleaded not guilty at their initial appearances.

Castona is currently in custody at Montana State Prison following a conviction earlier this year for sexual assault.

The Broadwater County and Lewis and Clark County sheriff's offices both assisted in the investigation.

FWP urges anyone with possible information about illegal harvests to visit bit.ly/mttps23 to provide details or call the FWP violation reporting hotline at 1-800-TIP-MONT.