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 Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) worked the fishing opener, checked ATVs, and worked the North Shore streams. Very few anglers were out and about trying to find open water. Most lakes are still covered with ice. Fishermen along the shore did quite well with some nice loopers seen in the bag. The officer responded to an illegal fire that got out of control and spread onto the neighbor’s property. Appropriate paperwork was issued.
CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports some ice fishing during the opening weekend. A couple of guys estimated about 30 inches of rotten ice where they were fishing. Others found scraps of whatever Mother Nature threw at them when it came to open water. Some skidded canoes and small boats over ice to get to open water. Add on top of that the constant snow squalls and high winds, making some say it’s just not worth it. The CO got a canoe in here and there and checked people who were frozen and fishless. The CO noted that people are really starting to get grumpy from the long winter.
CO Mary Manning (Hovland) patrolled area rivers, state parks and lakes. Anglers on the shore reported good success; sketchy ice conditions and poor weather kept smart anglers off frozen lakes this opener. Manning also assisted CO Wahlstrom with an illegal brush fire that got out of control in the high winds.
Just when Officer Gary Sommers (Walker) thought he would make it through the weekend without a rescue call, at 3 p.m. on Sunday a report came in regarding a boat trapped and surrounded by ice near Federal Dam on Leech Lake. The Cohasset Fire Department responded with their Ice Angel and rescued the two adults and one child. No one was hurt. The fire department described the ice pack as 24 inches thick.
CO Shawn Wichmann (Hill City) was parked at a local gas station and he observed an individual drive up next to him pulling a boat. The subject then got out and decided to use the gas station parking lot as a restroom. Wichmann approached the subject and found he had been driving after his driver’s license was revoked.
CO Jim Guida (Brainerd) observed an all-terrain vehicle traveling down a paved county road late Saturday evening at speeds estimated in excess of 60 to 70 mph. Guida caught up to the ATV and enforcement action was taken after the officer recognized it to be the same operator who was warned about the same violation two weeks ago. When asked where the operator was going he indicated that he just wanted to run up and get a pack of smokes.
CO Karl Hadrits (Crosby) responded to an unusual call the night before the opener. Two individuals were ramming the ice with their motor boat in an unsafe manner on one ice-locked area lake. When approached and asked what they were doing, they said they were “trying to break up and clear away the ice in a scientific manner” so they’d have a place to fish in the morning. They were encouraged to find something better to do.
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