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 Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais)
reports that he had a chat with a couple of deer hunters on opening day. Part of the conversation included where the CO lived. The next day these two hunters spotted a deer at the end of the CO’s driveway. They pulled their truck over and the passenger got out and shot the deer across both lanes of traffic and towards the CO’s driveway. It didn’t work out very well. They were quickly located, the deer and the rifle involved were seized and both individuals will be charged with gross misdemeanors. One should not shoot from the roadway anywhere, especially in front of a CO’s driveway.
CO Mary Manning (Hovland)
tested and conducted field shoots with adult Firearms Safety students trying to get done before deer season. Manning also addressed changes to the cased gun laws on local radio and with several hunters checked during the firearms deer opener. Manning investigated a report of parties shooting from a vehicle and a case of illegal ATV activity and permanent hunting stand construction. Manning also worked areas of past illegal deer shining activities.
CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte)
worked the very warm opening weekend of the firearms deer season checking hunters. The officer investigated TIP calls on baiting and shooting from the roadway. Numerous phone calls were handled on gun case law changes and general deer hunting questions. Wahlstrom assisted in the location of a missing hunter in the Isabella area. Theofficerworked with the Superior National Forest LEO on illegal activity within the National Forest. Wahlstrom worked a shining detail with area officers.
CO Paul Parthun (Lake George)
took a complaint regarding a man with a compressed air horn. The man was in the woods sounding the horn and harassing hunters. Parthun also assisted with a victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg. Thevictim was stable when he left the woods by ambulance.
CO Lloyd Steen (Ray/Kabetogama)
investigated a complaint and interviewed suspects who sprayed chemicals on trees, and cut down trees, to make numerous wide shooting lanes for their stands on state property. He also talked with Twin Cities hunters who wanted to register their deer first, before asking where the nearest hospital was. Inspection of the back of their vehicle revealed a prone hunter with multiple breaks to his leg, but a very good splint job done with rope and large balsam branches!
CO Mark Fredin (Aurora)
was at a local store on deer opener when a person drove in behind Fredin’s squad truck and parked. Fredin was out talking to another party who was registering a deer and when walking by the truck behind his squad, saw a rifle in the passenger side barrel pointed down and in an unzipped case where the stock was fully exposed. Fredin asked the driver if he could check the rifle to make sure it was unloaded and was told “sure.” Thedriver reached in and took hold of the rifle to pull it out and Fredin told him to just open the bolt to show it was empty. He then pushed the rifle back into the case and BOOM it goes off sending a 300 WIN MAG through the passenger floor out toward the wheel. After getting his feet back on the ground, Fredin ordered him to the back of the truck and Fredin took the rifle and unloaded two rounds from the magazine and the spent round. Fortunately no one was hurt and the man informed Fredin he had not used the gun since last fall’s hunting season. He was verbally reprimanded and issued a citation for transporting a loaded firearm.
CO Bob Mlynar (Aitkin)
began a contact thinking that a hunter lying on the ground had taken a fall. However it proved to be a young hunter who was too tired to stay awake an hour into legal shooting time. One hunter, who earlier was charged with hunting over bait on private property, was seen parked at a public land hunting area. The law requires a 10-day waiting period once the bait is removed before the area can be hunted.
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