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)
checked snowmobilers and worked sled trails and forest roads. Manning also worked lakes and checked anglers, many of whom were wondering where the fish are. Several ice fishing shelters were found with little or no reflective materials marking them. This can be dangerous to the folks inside and to snowmobilers running on lakes at night who may not see the shelter until it is too late. The officer attended training from the Border Patrol, handled equipment maintenance, took calls about a party living on MnDOT land, and delivered a wolf carcass to DNR Wildlife for the Chicago Field Museum.
CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais)
checked trout anglers and snowmobilers. Fishing has slowed in the designated trout lakes.
CO Greg Abraham (New Ulm)
reports checking coyote hunters who are quickly losing favor with local landowners as reports of litter, shooting rifles next to farm homes, shooting from vehicles, and trespass complaints are received almost daily.
CO Mike Martin (St. Cloud)
assisted Stearns County deputies with a snowmobile injury accident in Albany where the subjects were jumping snow banks in a public parking lot. Enforcement action was taken for speed, no trail sticker, travel against traffic after a half-hour past sunset, no snowmobile safety certificate, and failure to display registration.
CO Alex Gutierrez (Forest Lake)
patrolled the snowmobile trails in his area with many sleds seen. Many violations were enforced to include studded track on paved trail which appeared higher than normal. Gutierrez asked the individuals why they ignored the signs posted at every street crossing. Some said they thought it was alright as long as they did not ride on the paved part and some even said the same thing as they were riding on the paved portion of the trail. But most later admitted to knowing it was wrong and they knew it was prohibited. Some offenders of the studded track violations just thought enforcement officers would not check their track for studs.
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