FILE - A young golden eagle is released above Rogers Pass by a wildlife biologist on Oct. 6, 2005, near Lincoln, Mont. A Washington state man accused of helping kill more than 3,000 birds including eagles on a Montana Indian reservation then illegally selling their parts intends to plead guilty to federal criminal charges.
A grand jury indictment last December quotes defendant Travis John Branson saying in a January 2021 text that he was going on a “killing spree” to obtain eagle tails. Branson and a second defendant, Simon Paul, killed approximately 3,600 birds, including eagles on the Flathead reservation and elsewhere, according to the indictment. Federal authorities have not disclosed how all the birds were killed, nor where else the killings happened.
Feathers and other parts of eagles are illegal to sell but widely used by Native Americans in ceremonies and during powwows. The indictment described Branson and Paul trafficking golden and bald eagles or their parts on at least 11 occasions between December 2020 and the stop of Branson by law enforcement on March 13, 2021.
In another text exchange, Branson was negotiating an eagle feather sale when he allegedly wrote, “I don’t get em for free though....out hear committing felonies,” according to the court filings.