“From my point of view, they were trying to find a way to not get a permit,” said Staggs, who noted his office is a promotional entity, not a permitting one. They also didn’t tell him they had a YouTube channel where some of their videos received hundreds of thousands of views, according to Staggs.

The only commercial filming the U.S. Forest Service has ever allowed in the Bob Marshall Wilderness that he’s aware of, Staggs said, is “3 Miles an Hour,” a Montana PBS documentary about legendary outfitter and guide Smoke Elser that is offered for $19.95 on the Montana PBS website.

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An FWP news release announcing the plea agreement last week indicated bull trout had been mishandled by the Boughton brothers and Von Ruden during the trip, including an instance where one of the fish was caught, reeled in, netted, handled, and then released with the hook and line still attached so they could film it under water being reeled in, netted and handled again.

Some bull trout were over-handled by the three men for periods of 12 minutes or more, Sommers had charged, and FWP Region 1 fisheries manager Mark Deleray said what the men did with the fish after catching and before releasing them “will no doubt have negative impacts on the bull trout fishery.”