CO Mary Manning (Hovland) continued to take calls and questions about a potential wolf season and law changes since delisting. Manning attended computer training, checked anglers and snowmobilers, and completed office work. Enforcement action was taken for unattended angling line and operating an unregistered snowmobile.
CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports very slow fishing on the designated trout lakes. Activity was very quiet with only a few locals fishing here and there. The traveling in the BWCAW is very good and a few people are taking advantage of that. Slush can be found on some of the smaller lakes where the wind can’t get to and the snow piles up. Conditions are very good for the most part. The snowmobile trails are still rideable, but they are in desperate need of snow.
CO Dan Thomasen (Two Harbors) responded to a residence where a bobcat had gotten into an enclosure surrounding the chicken coop. The owner had left the gate open on the enclosure overnight, but the cat refused to leave. A portion of the fence was lowered and after some poking and prodding, the unhappy cat finally made a break for the woods.
CO Jim Guida (Brainerd) received a call from a law enforcement officer inquiring if it was illegal to just remove the antlers from a car-killed deer. In this case, the law requires a license or permit for possession of any part of the animal.
CO Dan Malinowski (Fosston) continues to investigate thefts of fish houses and complaints of minnows and trash dumped on the ice. A vehicle broke through thin ice over the weekend and has already been removed from the water.
CO Lisa Kruse (White Bear Lake) handled a call in which an individual was celebrating his birthday and decided to take a pool table out onto the ice of White Bear Lake and burn it.
CO Chris Vinton (Perham) was part of a multistate investigation effort and led a group of Minnesota COs during the execution of a search warrant at a taxidermy business. Vinton received a call from a woman, recovering from hip surgery, who thought she had ghosts in a shed because the lights kept going off and on in the locked building. A neighbor checked it out and found a porcupine inside. When the animal climbed the pole with the light switch on it, it would hit the switch and turn the lights off and on. Vinton set one of the lady’s live traps. The next morning, the lady called and told Vinton that he had caught the “prickly bugger.” The animal was relocated to a remote area.
Although the Cook County News-Herald knows that the majority of sportsmen and women are law-abiding folks, there are a few that run afoul of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Conservation Officers. Periodically, the DNR provides a report of some of the miscreants the Conservation Officers (CO) have encountered. The News-Herald shares these stories as a reminder to all to be safe and to follow the rules!
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