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!
CO Mary Manning (Hovland) reports a quiet week; extreme heat and humidity seemed to affect the activity level of many folks. Manning checked area lakes and boaters; fishing activity was slow. The officer also took a report of an ice fishing shelter afloat on an area lake following the recent heavy rains. Cabin owners are reminded to reel up lines if they are not around to tend them.
CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports a busy week on the water. Several people are not carrying enough PFDs for everyone on board. Some people chose to fish without fishing licenses and trout stamps. A couple of people were also encountered using extra lines. Several sunbathers and swimmers were reminded that boat accesses are just that and that they have to yield the right of way to watercraft and not plug up the boat ramps and docks. It doesn’t help when the people on the docks don’t move for watercraft and dogs are snarling and showing their teeth to boaters. Please use common sense when in the water around spinning boat props. Human flesh is no match for a boat prop. The CO also worked with CO Thomasen and COC Mueller on Upper Red Lake. One child in a boat was given a Panda Award for wearing his life jacket while the adult was given another piece of paper for not having a life jacket in the boat for himself.
CO Dan Thomasen (Two Harbors) spent some time dealing with animal complaints and a road-killed bobcat, which was turned over to division of wildlife staff.
COC Mitch Lawler cited one individual for fishing from shore with no license after being cited by CO Vinton just a few weeks prior for the same violation. The individual’s fishing rod/reel was seized as evidence.
CO Jeff Johanson (Osakis) reports finding a man who was boating with his two young daughters while possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The man said he wasn’t going to use the drug in the presence of his children, but he also didn’t want to leave the items in his vehicle at the public access.
CO Mark Mathy (Cass Lake) reports that a boater encountered a scary situation when he jumped in the water after his efforts with his fire extinguisher failed to put out an engine fire. The boater was fine after being picked up by another boater. The fire burned out a short time later and the boat was towed to shore.
CO Nikki Shoutz (Pine River) found a 65-year-old female and two juveniles possessing an over limit of sunfish on a small lake in Cass County. The three had a total of 109 sunfish, one bass and one perch. After paperwork was complete and fish seized, she asked if they could continue fishing for other species.
CO Aaron Kahre (Minnetonka) was patrolling Lake Minnetonka on July 4 when he encountered a boat full of people under the age of 21 who had been drinking. When one of the people got his citation, he stated the PBT reading was so low that a piece of pepperoni pizza would cause the same reading. The person told Kahre that he would see him in court because it was nothing more than a slice of pepperoni pizza. The CO noted there was no pizza on board the boat.
Leave a Reply