Travis Branson, sentenced and ordered to pay restitution for killing eagles and selling their feathers, walks out of the Russell Smith Federal Courthouse in Missoula in October 2024 with his coat over his head. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)
A Washington man who shot and sold eagles for “the price of a bullet” and bragged about going “on a killing spree” was sentenced Thursday to 46 months in federal prison for his role in leading a trafficking scheme on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
Travis John Branson, 49, who may have killed at least 3,600 birds in the course of 12 years, also was ordered to pay $777,250 in restitution for the eagles and hawks the U.S. government could prove he killed through text messages and other evidence.
In U.S. District Court of Montana in Missoula, Branson apologized to his family and told them he loved them. He thanked “everyone that put time into this.”
“I know what I did was wrong,” Branson said.
However, in his text messages read in court by a special investigator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Branson was full of braggadocio about the shootings, which he said he had done since as early as the 1980s.
“Out hear (sic) committing felonies,” he said in one text message read in court.
He used high powered optics, including expensive spotting scopes, and he killed birds at night, according to the evidence provided in court.
“I hit one of them babies bad in the wing flew off and if he lands he going to crash lol bad bad ugly,” said part of one text message from Branson read in court.
Said another: “I was nailing em w/ night vision down south … lol.”
In March, Branson pleaded guilty to conspiracy, two counts of unlawful trafficking of bald and golden eagles and violation of the Lacey Act, which prohibits interstate sale of poached wildlife. He will self report to prison, and he will serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.
In pronouncing the sentence, federal Judge Dana Christensen said he was “profoundly concerned” with Branson’s criminal behavior that led to the deaths of golden and bald eagles, immature birds and hawks.
“I think if you had not been caught, you’d still be doing it today,” Christensen said.
The judge said the crimes were calculated. Branson knew he was violating federal law, as revealed in his text messages, and yet he continued to set baits, build blinds, direct others and shoot birds, Christensen said.
The judge said Branson did so for the money: “You were acting out of greed over and over and over again.”
From 2009 until 2021, Branson made from $180,000 to $360,000 by selling eagles feathers and parts for profit on the black market, the government estimated.
The restitution amount the judge ordered accounts for $5,000 for each of 118 eagles killed and $1,750 for each of 107 hawks killed. That’s the number of birds the U.S. government could prove Branson killed from 2015 through 2021, the period of six years for which he was charged.
(Determining market value for black market birds is difficult, the judge said. One 2017 study estimated essentially twice the amounts granted in the judgment, but the amounts ordered align with an affidavit used in another federal case and the values sought by the government.)
However, an alleged conspirator estimated Branson’s crew killed 300 to 400 birds a year and had done so for at least 12 years, according to testimony from the special agent — resulting in an indictment that calculated some 3,600 birds killed.
On the witness stand, Special agent Mona Iannelli said Branson was the coordinator of the kills and the sales. She said others who worked with him would send Branson pictures, and he would communicate with purchasers.
In some cases, she said, Branson would ask for their help finding other buyers, and in other cases, he would alert them to more kills ahead — “we gonna go hard” in the next few days, he said in a text she read.
She said the crew was particularly interested in immature golden eagles, whose feathers are black and white and “highly sought after” for many buyers.
In one case, she explained a photo captured with a surveillance camera of Branson sitting in the passenger seat of a truck with a firearm pointed ahead. She said the clarity of the picture indicates Branson was driving slowly toward a nearby bait site.
She said after eagles eat or overeat on a carcass, they often perch because they’re full, and she believes Branson was waiting to shoot an eagle that would feed and then rest on a large snagged tree nearby.
Iannelli, who explained to the court the process investigators used to trace the 118 eagles and 107 hawks directly to Branson, also said those numbers appear to represent a fraction of the actual killings, which took place in and outside Montana: “I believe that this is just a small glimpse of the killing that was happening.”
After the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said eagles are not only birds of biological interest, they are a national symbol of freedom and liberty, and laws have been passed to protect bald and golden eagles.
“Ignoring these laws, Travis Branson and others hunted and slaughtered thousands of eagles on the Flathead Indian Reservation for over 30 years, then sold them on the black market across the United States and elsewhere,” Laslovich said.
Even after he knew the authorities were onto him, Branson continued to kill and “butcher” the birds to sell their feathers, he said.
Laslovich said Branson was brazen in the conspiracy, untangled through collaboration among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ fish and game department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Montana.
However, Laslovich said the most offensive thing to him in the case is “how numb (Branson) was when he killed these protected species.”
“He thought this was funny, but he’s not laughing today, and nor are we,” Laslovich said. “He was enthusiastic, even giddy, about slaying these protective groups, which makes his conduct all the more unconscionable and grotesque.”
Laslovich said many people joined forces to resurrect the bald eagle when it was on the verge of extinction, culminating in the passage of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and he said he’s proud to contribute to the success story.
However, Laslovich also said the case can’t bring back the birds Branson killed.
“But we can, and we will, hold accountable those who are doing so, just as we’ve done with Mr. Branson today,” Laslovich said.
Co-defendant in the case Simon Paul also has been indicted in the conspiracy. The government said he remains a fugitive.
In a statement provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, CSKT Chairman Mike Dolson said the Flathead Indian Reservation will feel the effects of the loss of the raptors Branson killed for years.
“We hope this helps put a stop to illegal poaching on our homelands and gives these birds a chance to recover,” Dolson said. “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.”