Some hunters wait 20 years to draw a bull tag in Montana’s Hunting District 380. Two poachers decided they didn’t need one.
If you’ve ever put in for a limited-entry elk unit, you know the math. HD 380 in the Elkhorn Mountains is one of the hardest bull tags to draw in Montana — the draw success rate has run well under one percent. Guys build points for decades and die without ever hunting it. That’s what makes this case sting.
What Happened in the Elkhorns
According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and reporting from MeatEater, Tylor Castona and Alisha Byrd of East Helena illegally killed three six-point bull elk in HD 380 — shot with rifles, during archery season. They also took three whitetail bucks along the way.
One of those deer is what unraveled the whole thing. A landowner heard gunshots on his property at night, flipped on the lights, and found a buck left to rot where it fell. He called it in, and that phone call kicked off a year-long FWP investigation that ended with both poachers convicted.
The Price They Paid
Castona got six months in jail, $12,650 in restitution, and a 30-year loss of hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges. Byrd was sentenced to six months with all but 30 days suspended, plus restitution and a 10-year revocation of her privileges.
Thirty years is one of the stiffer bans we’ve seen, and we’re glad the judge didn’t go easy. But here’s the honest question: is it enough? Three branch-antlered bulls in a once-in-a-lifetime unit, killed at night with rifles during bow season — that’s not a mistake. That’s a pattern. Some states would have called that a felony worth prison time, not months.
Poaching Isn’t Hunting — Period
We’ve said it before and we’ll keep saying it: poaching isn’t hunting. It’s theft. Those three bulls belonged to every hunter who’s been putting in for that unit and eating tag soup year after year, and to every Montanan who owns that wildlife in trust.
Cases like this one — or the Idaho hunter who shot a trophy bull with a rifle during bow season and faked an arrow wound — hand anti-hunters their best ammunition for free. Every poacher makes the rest of us look worse at exactly the moment hunting can’t afford it.
The bright spot: the system worked because a landowner picked up the phone. If you see something in the field that doesn’t add up, report it. In Montana that’s 1-800-TIP-MONT, and every western state runs a similar hotline. Most pay rewards, and most let you stay anonymous.
Want a Big Bull? There’s a Legal Shortcut
Here’s the irony: you don’t have to poach — or wait 20 years — to hunt bulls like these. Private-land hunts with guaranteed landowner tags in New Mexico skip the draw entirely, and guided elk hunts in Colorado still have tags available for this fall.
Browse all our guided hunt adventures or reach out and we’ll match you with the right hunt — legally, with a tag in your pocket.
Hunting is not a hobby. It’s an obsession. Protect it.
