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) patrolled area forest roads and noted state taxpayers will be purchasing many new road signs to replace ones that have been stolen over the winter. Fishing is slow on inland lakes. Lake Superior tributaries are busy and producing steelhead. Anglers and campers were checked at area lakes. Manning helped teach ATV safety class/field day, assisted with a litter complaint, and took a report of a dead tagged wolf in Hovland.
CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) checked anglers, ATV riders and responded to a litter violation. The officer assisted in teaching in the classroom and the riding part of an ATV safety course. Inland anglers were excited to get their boats in the water after most lakes became ice-free. Steelhead anglers were doing well in certain tributaries with some nice loopers seen in the bag.
CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports a very uneventful week. Most of the lakes in Cook County opened with only a few with some ice left on them. People generally stayed away from what open water there was. The CO assisted with an ATV field day for young students and attended a pizza party afterwards with the newly certified students. A good time was had by all and a special thanks to the Cook County ATV Club, and volunteer instructors for their support of the kids. Even though the weather hasn’t been cooperating the lake trout have been.
CO Randy Hanzal (Duluth) gave several radio and newspaper interviews after a story broke about two eagles that had crash-landed at an airport after fighting over territory and needed intervention to be freed from their deadly grip on each other. One eagle was taken to the Rapture Center for recovery.
CO Scott Staples (Carlton) took enforcement action for angling without a license and angling in a closed area. One angler was found to be using his brother’s angling license when he didn’t quite meet the physical description on the license. The reason he was using his brother’s license was because he was cited by Officer Staples the previous year for angling with extra lines and didn’t pay the fine. So he not only could not buy a license, he also had a warrant for his arrest. He was taken to jail on the warrant and is facing more charges for angling without a license, borrow/lend license, and false info to a peace officer. His brother was also cited for borrow/lend license.
CO Nikki Shoutz (Pine River) received a call from an aquatic invasive species inspector who wanted to know if the buoys which came off the lake last fall and were covered with zebra mussels (now dried up) could go back into the same lake. They were advised to go through a power washing/ decontamination unit even though they were going back into the same lake.
CO Paul Kuske (Pierz) found an odd number of people fishing without licenses this past week. A variety of excuses was used to try to plead their cases but when it comes right down to it either you are fishing or you aren’t.
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