Conservation Officer Tales

Although the Cook County News-Herald knows
that the majority of sportsmen and women are
law-abiding folks, there are a few who 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)
took many calls, including several on a large cow moose that was found dead on the Arrowhead Trail. The moose appears to have been hit by a vehicle, but the CO was not contacted by the driver and meat from the animal was all inedible; wildlife biologists did collect sample from the animal, including the head, to include in ongoing research. The officer also took calls on hunters using ATVs carrying loaded firearms; suspects were contacted at their campsite. All hunters are urged to consider the image they present to the non-hunting public. Manning also attended Use of Force and Firearm training, worked the fall salmon run, responded to an over-limit fish case at U.S. Customs, and helped teach an ATV safety class in Grand Portage.

CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte)
checked anglers in the Superior tributaries trying to catch salmon. The officer instructed Use of Force training in Hibbing. Wahlstrom followed up on ongoing bear cases and checked small game hunters.

CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais)
fielded many questions and some complaints about ATVs with uncased shotguns. An off-highway motorcycle was encountered that hadn’t been registered since 1981. The CO assisted with a medical at the Caribou Lake access.

Many people were out and about on the back roads. Some people were complaining about the lack of grouse, but they aren’t waiting around, in the dust, on a busy road for a hunter to come along. The people who are beating the bush on foot are doing pretty well.

The CO also checked Lake Superior tributaries and found violations for netting salmon, snagging salmon, and for possessing treble hooks. ATV registration violations were also taken care of. A citation was issued for an uncased shotgun in an area where discharge is prohibited by ordinance.

CO Dustie Heaton (Willow River)
received information concerning possible wanton waste of a doe shot by archery. After locating the deer, Heaton observed apples placed near the stand. Moments later an ATV could be heard in the distance. Heaton waited for the ATV to appear. Two males exited from the ATV. One male was carrying a bag full of apples. Theywere there to retrieve the doe and place more apples. The doe’s shooter claimed he did not know there were apples placed as bait. However, Heaton found fresh apple cores in the stand where the shooter stated he was hunting from. Guess he got hungry while he was waiting in the stand. Enforcement action was taken for hunting over bait and failing to validate the deer tag. The hunter’s bow and the deer were seized as evidence.

CO Ed Picht (Montevideo)
received a call of 40-50 dead birds by a local business. He responded to find the birds were all common yellowthroat warblers. It appears as though the flock was in its fall migration when the combination of the business’s lights and heavy fog confused the warblers. The birds flew into the store’s windows. Samples of the birds were collected and sent to a lab for confirmation.

CO Marty Stage (Ely)
received a call from a neighboring officer that he used to work with in South Dakota, saying he had a man claiming to be a northern Minnesota fishing guide in his custody for catching and keeping too many fish in the same day (double dipping) on a S.D. lake. The guide was claiming that he was allowed to keep/ possess a “daily” limit, then eat the fish for shore lunch, then go out and do it again in the same day. He said they do it all the time with their clients in northern Minnesota and that it had always been legal there.

His attempt at a possible S.D. violation defense was dashed when Stage informed him that not only was he wrong, but that he had been wrong for many years, and that all his guide buddies were wrong as well! Stage suggested that of all people, a fishing guide (in Minnesota) might want to know the laws that most every other Minnesota fisherman knows about fishing, and that the information is in the free Minnesota Fishing Handbook
available where he purchased his license. In Minnesota and S.D., you can only possess your “daily” limit in one day, period — no matter how many fish you eat for shore lunch.

Bear season continues

The Minnesota bear season continues until October 18. At press time only a few more bear had been taken and registered at local stations: