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 Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) checked trout anglers during the week. Some diehards were out in the high winds and frigid wind chills and looked more like arctic explorers than ice fishermen from a distance. Many people from Ontario are coming down to enjoy our snowmobile trails as our trail stickers are much less than what they have to pay up there. Many of them have been very complimentary of our trail systems in Minnesota.
CO Mary Manning (Hovland) checked anglers and ice fishing shelters on area lakes and patrolled snowmobile trails and forest roads. Cold temperatures and high winds have kept folks out of the woods. The officer also assisted with security for the Polymet meeting in Aurora.
CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) checked anglers on area lakes and also in the Silver Bay station. The bites slowed as the cold snap hit. Wahlstrom, along with Officer Miller, assisted the Lake County Search and Rescue and Sheriff ’s Department with a snowmobile accident near the Lake-Cook County line.
Water Resource Enforcement Officer Tony Arhart (Grand Rapids) reports that anglers are beginning to drive “cross country” on some waters, gaining access to better angling locations. He observed recovery efforts on Lake Winnie where a pickup was pulled from 30-foot lake depths. Ice depths were reported as 26 inches at this site now. Arhart also helped when a loose bobcat with a snare still attached to it was reported.
CO Joyce Kuske (Little Falls) worked snowmobile trail enforcement and encountered one large group of snowmobilers who could not understand why they were ticketed for operating studded tracks on a paved trail even though they hadn’t gone very far down the trail.
Leave a Reply