BILLINGS, Mont. — A Washington state man who authorities say killed at least 118 eagles as part of a wildlife trafficking ring operating on a Montana Native American reservation was sentenced Thursday to three years and 10 months in prison and must pay more than $777,000 in restitution.

The network of traffickers for more than a decade has sold eagle feathers and parts on a black market that exploits high demand among tribal members who use them in powwows and other ceremonies. The defendant and others killed at least 107 falcons and up to 3,600 birds in total, prosecutors said.

The poaching operation focused on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, which researchers say has some of the highest concentrations of eagles and other birds of prey in the US.

Travis John Branson of Cusick, Wash., pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and wildlife trafficking charges.

Before he was sentenced, Branson apologized to the court and his family.

“It’s my fault,” he said. “I know what I did was wrong.”

He declined to comment further after the hearing.

In text messages obtained by investigators and presented at the sentencing hearing, Branson wrote about killing birds as far back as the 1980s.

“So many I can’t remember LOL,” Branson said in one message.

Other texts describe eagles being shot in Nevada and Idaho and cases where dozens of birds were shot in a single weekend.

“This is just a small glimpse of the killing that was going on,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent in Charge Mona Iannelli said during the hearing.

A second defendant in the case told authorities the trafficking ring had been operating since 2009, killing between 300 and 400 birds annually.

Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula to impose a “significant” prison term and order Branson to pay restitution of $5,000 for each eagle killed and $1,750 for each falcon.

Branson faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge. But his public defender asked for a probationary sentence and argued that prosecutors overstated the number of birds killed.

Federal defender Andrew Nelson also challenged the restitution amount, saying it was too high for eagles and falcons should not be counted.

Branson had no criminal record, according to Nelson. Because of the criminal charges, he lost his job as a maintenance supervisor for the Kalispell Tribe in Washington, Nelson said, and the defendant suffered a stroke in April.

A second person has been charged in the case, and prosecutors at the US Attorney’s Office said others were involved.

The criminal case underscores the persistence of a thriving illegal trade in eagle feathers, despite law enforcement efforts over the past decade that have resulted in dozens of criminal charges in the U.S. West and Midwest.

Bald eagles, once highly endangered by the pesticide DDT, have rebounded in recent decades and are now abundant. The recovery of the golden eagle has been poorer, and researchers have warned that the population is on the verge of decline due to shootings, poisoning, electrocution on power lines, collisions with wind turbines and other threats.

It is illegal to buy or sell eagle feathers or other parts. The government tried to offset the strong demand for feathers among Native Americans by offering them free from a government warehouse. But they can’t keep up with demand, and the warehouse is backlogged for years.

Branson earned between $180,000 and $360,000 from 2009 to 2021 illegally selling bald eagle and golden eagle parts, according to court filings.

Court documents quote Branson as saying in a January 2021 text that he was going on a “killing spree” to get eagle tails.

“It was not unusual for Branson to take more than nine eagles at a time,” prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana wrote in a court filing. “Not only did Branson kill eagles, he hacked them into pieces to sell for future profits.”

The second defendant, Simon Paul, from St. Ignatius, Montana, remains at large. A federal judge issued an arrest warrant for Paul in December after he failed to appear for an initial hearing. Court documents suggested he fled to Canada.

Federally recognized tribes can apply for permits from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to take a bald or golden eagle for religious purposes. Enrolled tribal members can apply for feathers and other bird parts from the National Eagle Repository in Colorado and non-governmental repositories in Oklahoma and Arizona.