Northern Minnesota man charged with killing neighbor’s dog, baiting bear, overkilling deer

BEMIDJI – A neighbor’s dog, an endangered timber wolf and too many deer were killed by a north-central Minnesota family that also admitted to baiting bears for years, according to criminal charges recently filed against a father and his three sons.

The bulk of accusations in Beltrami County District Court stem from Brandon Mutchler, 26, of Hines, who documented the overkills and poaches in journal entries, photographs, text messages and a chest freezer full of evidence. Charges against the Mutchler family include killing protected wild animals — bear and wolf — and failing to register big game.

Mutchler also stands accused of shooting and killing his neighbor’s dog in the midst of a lengthy Department of Natural Resources investigation. He denied killing the dog, but his Google search history outlined in the charges says otherwise.

Beltrami County Attorney David Hanson said the DNR refers cases to his office every year, but “definitely not to this extent” and “none of this magnitude.”

“I haven’t seen something this egregious in a very long time,” Hanson said in a phone interview.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Mutchler said, “We’re gonna fight it, so that’s about it.” He declined to comment further or provide the name of his attorney, which is not listed in public court records. He referred questions to his dad, Thomas Mutchler, a former law enforcement officer, who didn’t return calls.

Daniel and Jessica Juelson were coming home from vacation in South Dakota when their beloved German shepherd, Sysco, was shot Aug. 27, 2023, inside his kennel.

A sheriff’s deputy went to their home in Hines, about 20 miles north of Bemidji, and found Sysco dead. The Juelson’s daughter, Savanna, 21, works at a local veterinarian clinic and mustered the strength to take Sysco in for X-rays that showed a bullet lodged in his shoulder.

“I can’t believe how strong she was to do that. This was her puppy,” Jessica Juelson said in an interview.

The Juelsons located a handful of .22 caliber shell casings near the kennel. They posted about Sysco’s killing online and reached out to local news outlets to no avail. But they stayed persistent and patient.

Mutchler was identified as a potential suspect given his proximity to the Juelson’s home. His Google search history in the months following Sysco’s killing included, in part:

“guy illegally shot a wolf in northern mn,” “mn man charged with shooting too many deer,” “fingerprints and dna off a shot .22 shell case,” “Juelson dogs shot,” “can police get prints off a fired .22 shell,” “how long does it take for bullets to be sent off to a lab and have dna collected,” “dogs shot in hines mn,” “mn man shoots neighbors dog,” “mn laws on killing someones dog,” “is shooting a dog a felonie,” “can a bullet be traced without the gun,” and “how far do police look into pet murders.”

Mutchler is charged with two felony animal mistreatment charges in Sysco’s killing.

“We had our suspicions,” Jessica Juelson said, adding that Sysco was her protector and calling him “my boy.”

“Knowing our neighbors and knowing the stuff that they’ve done, I felt safe with him here with me. And then when they took him and he was gone, I just felt absolutely scared to death to do anything.”

The DNR declined to comment, as the cases are active. Here’s how the state agency began looking into the Mutchlers, according to detailed narratives in the criminal complaints.

Two men dressed in blaze orange on Rice Pond Road in Hines caught the attention of DNR conservation officer Demo Regas on Nov. 1, 2023.

They were Brandon Mutchler, with a rifle slung over his shoulder, and his dad, Thomas Mutchler.

Regas knew Thomas owned land nearby and recalled a tip about Brandon possibly overkilling deer the previous season. Regas looked up DNR records showing that he submitted two deer antlers to taxidermists with his 2022 deer license.

Despite this, Brandon initially told Regas he didn’t harvest any deer, even when he purchased a license. Confronted with the DNR records, Brandon said he shot, but did not register, a deer in 2022. He claimed his girlfriend had shot the other deer. Regas talked to the girlfriend who said the “nice buck” was roadkill.

Regas went to the taxidermist in Laporte, who has 20-plus years of experience. When observing the deer, they both noted a hole in the shoulder consistent with a three-blade broadhead arrow.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant two months later of a Hines home where Thomas and Brandon Mutchler live.

Inside a freezer in the garage were multiple packages of deer meat labeled “Round-22 Brandon’s 8pt” and “Brandon-22 10 pt,” which indicates the 2022 hunting season and number of antler points.

Notably, bear claws were in an unmarked zip-lock bag. There was no bear licensing information.

A search of a Bemidji home where Brandon also resides with a brother turned up a notebook with journal entries from 2022 about baiting a bear (without a license) and illegally shooting a 1½-year-old doe.

“I get it, I take too many deer, and I didn’t register them,” Brandon told officers, the charges state. “I’m not going to be doing this any longer.”

Brandon told officers that for most of his life, he didn’t tag deer. The DNR wrote in the charges that his brother Matthew “came up with the bright idea that he basically started shooting only one deer a year.”

In separate interviews, Brandon and Thomas both admitted that their family has been baiting bears on their property for years. They don’t hunt or tag them.

Thomas is charged with possessing bear. Matthew Mutchler, 28, is charged with killing the wolf in November 2023. The charges are misdemeanors. Thomas said Matthew simply found the wolf, but the DNR says there are text messages to the contrary.

Thomas, Brandon, Matthew and Nicholas Mutchler are charged with failing to register a deer in the 2021-2022 hunting season, while Brandon faces a dozen charges for overkilling deer, failing to register deer and bear, and illegally transporting bear.

In total, charges say he shot four deer in 2023 (a doe and three bucks) and five deer in 2022 (a doe and four bucks). Minnesota limits hunters to five deer per season — only one can be a buck.

If convicted, potential penalties could result in fines and loss of hunting privileges.