Although the Cook County News- Herald knows that the majority of sportsmen and women are lawabiding 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) followed up on a dumping complaint in a state park where spilled paint cans, appliances and other household junk was thrown along a road. The man was tracked down after an investigation and he was cited for dumping a large amount of litter. He’ll also have to pay for cleanup costs. A TIP complaint was followed up on. Bear baits were checked along with guides and soon to be hunters. A radio interview was completed on bear problems. More bear complaints were handled. ATVs were checked with enforcement action for not properly displaying the registration as required. CO Mary Manning (Hovland) noticed a down tick in bear calls as natural food sources increase and property owners are more careful about leaving out bear-accessible food sources. CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) taught firearms training and tactics to the COCs at the academy. Time was spent checking bear bait stations and ATV activity. CO Brian Holt (Bemidji) was called when a good-sized female bear was found dead along the Wildfire Road in Hubbard County. The bear had a gunshot wound and she appeared to have been dragged by a motor vehicle for quite some distance. The investigation is ongoing. CO Tim Collette (Pequot Lakes) is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a turtle found crossing a road in the Gull Lake area that turned out to be a gopher tortoise, native to the far Southeast United States and a protected species listed as “threatened” under federal law. CO Tyler Quandt (Red Wing) reports that an American eel made the 4,000-mile trip from the Sargasso Sea and was caught on the Miss River in the Red Wing area. The angler opted to keep the eel and take it home to eat. CO Eric Benjamin (Warroad) came upon a campfire this past weekend that was left unextinguished while the campers went for a ride on their ATV. He was able to speak with them later in the day after they had returned. They stated that when they left earlier in the morning it was just smoldering ash with a log that was thrown on but there were no flames. The conditions that day were very windy and CO Benjamin explained that it doesn’t take much wind to reignite a smoldering heap of ash into a fire when there is a fuel source present, as was evident by the flaming log. Enforcement action was taken.
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