Most hunters admire a trophy bighorn ram for what’s on top of its head. Montana outfitter John Edward Lewton ended up in federal court over something considerably further south.
Lewton, 66, of Belgrade, was sentenced on October 20 in Billings to a $20,000 fine, one year of probation, and a yearlong prohibition on commercial guiding and outfitting for selling the testicles of a client’s legally harvested bighorn ram. The buyer was attempting to breed enormous hybrid sheep for captive trophy-hunting facilities.
The case involves cloned sheep, smuggled genetics, and a man willing to pay for a dead ram’s reproductive equipment. I have a hard time believing a $20,000 fine and a year on the sidelines adequately address the involvement of a professional outfitter in this particular mess. Especially considering this isn’t his first federal conviction involving a bighorn sheep hunt.
A Trophy Ram and a Ballsy Transaction
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Lewton was guiding a client on October 20, 2019, when the hunter killed a trophy-sized Rocky Mountain bighorn ram on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
After the hunt, Lewton collected the animal’s testicles and sold them to Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, who operated an alternative livestock breeding facility near Vaughn, Montana. Schubarth was interested in acquiring genetics from trophy-sized wild bighorns to incorporate into his commercial breeding operation.
Lewton previously offered a different explanation for the transaction. In a January 2025 interview, he maintained that the $400 he received was reimbursement for gas, rather than payment for the testicles themselves.
Unfortunately for Lewton, Montana law doesn’t provide an exemption for creative entrepreneurship involving wild sheep genitalia. The transaction violated state wildlife law and resulted in a federal Lacey Act trafficking charge, to which Lewton pleaded guilty on May 14, 2026.
Under his probation conditions, Lewton cannot participate in commercial hunting, fishing, trapping, guiding, or outfitting activities for one year. He’s also prohibited from accompanying others engaged in those commercial activities, according to a November 2 statement from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP).
The client’s hunt was legal. Lewton’s conviction stems from what he did with the ram afterward, which turned an otherwise successful hunt into a federal wildlife trafficking case involving testicles, experimental breeding, and some seriously questionable judgment.
The Frankensheep Connection
We previously covered Schubarth’s bizarre sheep-breeding operation, which earned him his own federal wildlife trafficking conviction in 2024.
Schubarth spent years attempting to create enormous hybrid sheep using illegally imported Marco Polo argali genetics from Kyrgyzstan. With help from a cloning laboratory, he eventually produced a purebred male argali that he named “Montana Mountain King.”
The cloned ram became the foundation of an operation intended to produce exceptionally large sheep for sale to captive hunting facilities, primarily in Texas.
Schubarth also sought genetics from Montana’s wild bighorns, soliciting hunting guides to supply testicles from recently harvested trophy rams so he could extract their semen. While Lewton’s transaction contributed to the operation, his guilty plea doesn’t establish how much he knew about Schubarth’s larger scheme.
The investigation uncovered illegally imported wildlife genetics, forged veterinary documents, prohibited hybrid animals, and interstate trafficking. Schubarth originally received a six-month prison sentence and financial penalties totaling $24,000. The court subsequently reduced his incarceration sentence to probation, and he never served prison time.
Ball Jokes Aside, This Isn’t Funny
I’m a hunter and a conservationist who loves these animals. I’ve spent a lot of time around wild sheep and the people who dedicate their lives to protecting them, including being incredibly active with both Montana Wild Sheep Foundation and KUIU’s Conservation Direct program.
Montana hunters spend decades applying for bighorn permits, conservation organizations raise substantial money for habitat restoration and disease research, and wildlife managers dedicate careers to keeping these animals on the landscape. This act is a slap in the face to them all, and more so to the animals we all love.
A Genetic Gamble With Wild Sheep
The potential consequences go well beyond the ethics of experimental breeding for high-fence trophy hunting.
Wild bighorn populations carry genetic adaptations shaped by their environments and evolutionary histories. If captive hybrid sheep escape and successfully breed with wild bighorns, they could introduce foreign genetics into native populations. Once those genes spread through subsequent generations, reversing the damage could be extraordinarily difficult, if it’s possible at all.
Then there’s disease, arguably the greatest threat to Montana’s wild sheep. We’ve watched entire herds collapse following pneumonia outbreaks, with surviving populations struggling through years of poor lamb recruitment. FWP’s bighorn sheep conservation strategy identifies disease and the genetic integrity of native populations as significant management concerns.
Federal investigators found that at least two sheep associated with Schubarth’s operation died from Johne’s disease, while the illegal importation and breeding activities raised additional disease concerns. There’s no evidence that Lewton’s transaction caused disease or genetic contamination in a wild herd, but the potential consequences of introducing prohibited animals are precisely why these regulations exist.
FWP warden investigator Dirk Paulsen described those involved in the operation as “driven by ego and greed.” Investigator Bryan Golie, who worked on the case beginning in 2020, characterized the wild sheep genetics as having been taken from Montana’s citizens and sold to high-fence hunting operations for profit.
Not Lewton’s First Rodeo
Lewton’s latest sentence might sound familiar. This isn’t the first time he’s received probation and a yearlong commercial restriction following a federal conviction involving a bighorn sheep hunt.
In 2011, Lewton was convicted of conducting commercial filming on National Forest land without the required permit. The case involved an October 2008 bighorn hunt and a $7,000 contract to photograph and film a client’s experience.
He received a $5,000 fine, with $2,000 suspended, one year of probation, and a one-year prohibition on commercial activity on federal land in Montana. Lewton appealed the conviction, but the Ninth Circuit upheld it in 2014.
And that wasn’t his only encounter with wildlife law enforcement involving a bighorn sheep in 2008.
The Sting
During a separate undercover FWP investigation that September, a game warden posing as a hunter killed a ram scoring more than 204 Boone and Crockett points in Montana’s Missouri River Breaks. According to contemporary reporting, the operation resulted in multiple state charges against Lewton, including allegations of illegal outfitting, unlawful possession of wildlife, and hunting without landowner permission.
The sting itself was controversial, particularly because an FWP investigator killed an exceptional wild ram as part of the operation. A Jefferson County jury acquitted Lewton of an illegal-purchase charge in March 2010, and subsequent accounts indicate the remaining state proceedings ended without convictions.
The 2011 federal conviction involved a commercial filming violation, considerably different from illegally trafficking wildlife parts. But the sentencing similarities are difficult to ignore. Fifteen years after receiving probation and a yearlong restriction on commercial activity, Lewton has received nearly identical professional restrictions for a substantially different offense.
I’d like to think the first conviction would have encouraged a little more caution when conducting business involving Montana’s wildlife.
A Family Business Still in Business
There’s also the question of how much Lewton’s latest yearlong prohibition will actually affect him financially.
His son, Forrest Lewton, owns Montana Trophy Outfitters, a separate outfitting business established in 2017. The company’s sheep hunting page advertises guided hunts in the Missouri River Breaks in conjunction with John’s Montana Big Horn Outfitters. It also promotes John’s considerable experience, crediting him with participating in more than 320 sheep hunts.
Forrest’s business can continue operating while John serves his probation. There’s no evidence that Forrest has done anything wrong or that John intends to violate his federal restrictions, and I’m not saying that John will continue earning income from outfitting.
Still, a year without personally guiding hunters isn’t necessarily a year without a hunting business. With an established family operation continuing to advertise sheep hunts and promote John’s experience, it’s worth asking just how much of a financial setback this particular punishment represents.
Time for the Whole Industry to Grow a Pair. MOGA, Your Move.
I’d be interested to hear what the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association (MOGA) thinks about all of this. MOGA lists Lewton’s Montana Big Horn Outfitters in its directory and promotes ethical professional service, conservation, and wildlife stewardship among its organizational values.
Does MOGA believe a professional outfitter with two federal convictions involving commercial bighorn hunting activities has upheld those values? And what, if anything, does the association believe the professional consequences should be?
Montana law also authorizes the Board of Outfitters to suspend or revoke professional licenses following wildlife law convictions. I haven’t confirmed Lewton’s current licensing status or whether he faces additional disciplinary proceedings, but you’d think authorities would seriously consider revoking his license.
When Will We Have The Balls to Hold Outfitters To A Higher Standard?
I don’t believe every wildlife violation warrants a lifetime ban from the industry. Far from it. Mistakes happen, and penalties should reflect the circumstances. But Lewton has now received two federal convictions involving commercial activities associated with bighorn hunts, and both came with a year of probation and a temporary restriction on commercial activity.
We expect outfitters to make a living from Montana’s wildlife while respecting the animals and the people who’ve worked to conserve them.
If selling a client’s bighorn testicles into a Frankensheep breeding operation, on top of an earlier federal conviction, doesn’t warrant a serious look at someone’s future in the outfitting industry, I’d be curious to know what the hell does.
