BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Two Montana men have been cited over illegally poaching two wolves from a helicopter in the Big Hole Valley.

The Billings Gazette reports that 30-year-old Dalton Thomas Tamcke and 22-year-old Justin Samuel Peterson told wildlife authorities they were hunting coyotes for predatory control action on March 3 and mistakenly took the wolves for coyotes.

The men later recovered the carcasses by snowmobile.

Wolf hunting from helicopters is illegal.

Montana’s Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, and the GOP-controlled Legislature have moved to increase the legal taking of wolves, which were removed from the U.S. Endangered Species list in Montana in 2011.

Get our free mobile app

Famous Historic Homes in Every State

LOOK: Famous Historic Homes in Every State

More From KBUL NEWS TALK 970 AM & 103.3 FM