A pair of men are facing a slew of charges in Flathead County District Court after getting caught allegedly spotlighting and shooting deer near Creston in September 2023.  

Brock Arthur Massie, 26, of Woodland, Washington, and Connor Pettitt, 23, of North East, Maryland, both face felony counts of accountability for unlawful possession of game or furbearing animal and misdemeanor counts of accountability for waste of game animal, accountability for unlawful use of equipment while hunting, accountability for hunting from a motor vehicle and accountability for failure to obtain landowner permission for hunting. Investigators believe the pair are connected to the illegal killing of deer in different locations in Northwest Montana over several weeks in the late summer of 2023. 

Authorities picked up the duo after receiving reports of hearing gunshots and seeing spotlights in the fields near Creston Hatchery Road and Egan Slough Road in the Creston area during the evening of Sept. 11 and early morning hours or Sept. 12, 2023, according to court documents. Arriving Flathead County Sheriff's Office deputies came across a white truck, which promptly fled from the authorities, court documents said.  

Pulling the truck over in Creston, deputies identified two people inside they suspected of spotlighting and shooting game animals: Massie and Pettitt.  

One person in the truck allegedly admitted the duo had spotlighted and killed at least one deer, removing its head and putting it in brush along the shoulder of Egan Slough Road, court documents said.  

Under escort, Massie led authorities to the deer's head and agreed to speak with game wardens when they arrived at the scene. He told them that the pair left Kalispell about 11 p.m. to hunt coyotes, according to court documents. Massie said he mostly drove while Pettitt rode in the back seat and did most of the shooting. When a whitetail deer popped up, Pettitt shot it, Massie allegedly said.  

The pair got out and allegedly walked onto private property to remove the deer's head in Massie's retelling. He said Pettitt put the head in the truck bed. Because that upset Massie, Pettitt allegedly tossed the head onto the side of the road.  

Massie estimated the pair shot at three or four deer that night, according to court documents. He allegedly said they fired from inside the truck, which was parked on the road. 

A search of the truck turned up a Savage .17-caliber bolt action rifle and a CCMG 6 mm ARC rifle as well as a spotlight, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, spent casings, a bloodied knife with deer hair on it and the duo's mobile phones, court documents said. Investigators also described finding bloodied ratchet straps in the truck bed and blood in various areas of the truck.   

THE INVESTIGATION continued into Sept. 12 with game wardens locating five dead whitetail bucks in the Creston area. Three were missing heads.  

Collecting DNA from the animals, authorities matched it to the evidence collected from the duo's knife and ratchet straps, according to court documents. One of the deer contained a bullet fired from a .17-caliber rifle and another bullet recovered was matched to a 6 mm rifle.  

Given a warrant to search the pair's phones, authorities confirmed the devices were in the area of the dead animals between Sept. 11 and Sept. 12, according to court documents. They also found evidence that allegedly linked the duo to wildlife crimes committed before the night deputies stopped them near Creston.  

One video on Massie's and Pettitt's phones dated to Sept. 3, 2023 and allegedly featured Pettitt shooting an antlerless deer with the .17-caliber rifle from the front seat of a white pickup truck. Data on the phone put the pair on Camas Road near Polson at the time the video was shot, court documents said. Authorities found the remains of an antlerless deer on private property about 55 yards from the road.  

Another video on Pettitt's phone, dated Aug. 30, 2023 and taken in Kalispell, featured three deer heads with the antlers still in velvet, according to court documents. More videos taken that day allegedly showed Massie and Pettitt killing a fawn, one capturing the bloodied and flailing animal trying to escape.  

An Aug. 27 video on Pettitt's phone featured him running up to a bloodied and dying mule deer buck while another recording taken the same day shows him stomping on the headless carcass, court documents said.  

Pettitt allegedly shared videos of the mule deer on Snapchat, a social media app, on Aug. 27. He also sent videos of a dead mule deer and fawn to another person via text message, writing that he and Massie had "folded a few deer," according to court documents.  

PROSECUTORS FILED the felony charges against Massie and Pettitt in August 2025, writing in charging documents that the restitution for all of the animals killed between Aug. 27 and Sept. 11, 2023 amounted to at least $5,400.  

Appearing before Judge Paul Sullivan on Dec. 11 for his arraignment, Pettitt pleaded not guilty. He was expected to go to trial in late March, but his defense attorney filed an unopposed motion to schedule a change of plea hearing on March 24. That hearing is set for April 16.  

Massie, meanwhile, is still awaiting his arraignment on the charges. He was set to go before Judge Amy Eddy on April 2, but his appearance in district court was continued until April 23.  

If convicted of the felony charge, the pair face up to five years in Montana State Prison, a maximum fine of $50,000, the forfeiture of any hunting, fishing or trapping licenses and the possible lifetime loss of those privileges. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 406-758-4430 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.