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 Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) followed up on wildlife complaints and big game investigations. The officer checked a few snowmobilers out testing their sleds and focused on trapping enforcement.
CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) checked hunters and trappers throughout the week. Very few people were out. Enforcement action was taken for driving off road vehicles on snowmobile trails and for failing to remove bear bait stations after season.
CO Mary Manning (Hovland) handled office work and prepared equipment for the change in season. The officer also patrolled, checking traps and looking for early fisher and marten traps.
CO Don Bozovsky (Hibbing) investigated a complaint of a dog dragging six deer heads back home. Also, a bat was seen trying to eke out an in-flight meal, before sunset, with a foot of snow on the ground and in 31-degree weather. One can safely assume it went to bed hungry.
CO Paul Kuske (Pierz) received a call from a person who found “No Trespassing” signs posted on a piece of public land. It was determined that a person had bought some adjacent land but did not research where the boundary lines were, resulting in a large piece of county land being posted with his signs, which he agreed to remove.
RTO Mike Lee received a call from a party stating that he thought he had located a small bear inside a Dumpster that appeared to be sleeping. Lee advised the party that the behavior seemed odd and what he described sounded more like a raccoon. He asked the caller if he was able to use a flashlight to get a better look at what was inside. After a few minutes the party called back and informed Officer Lee that it was a raccoon and it was not happy about being woken up. He was advised to leave the Dumpster lid open and it would leave as soon as no one was around.
CO Caleb Silgjord (Brookston) handled a complaint regarding a deer being shot illegally in the city of Duluth. The suspect was found to have shot not one, but two deer over a large baited area. It was also found that the hunter was not participating in the city-organized hunt and had placed a lent license on one of the deer. The suspect will potentially face the loss of his archery equipment and hunting privileges as well as large fines and restitution.
CO Craig Miska (Ortonville) reports that a 12-point buck was shot out of season and left to die in a field. The incident occurred 2½ miles southeast of the city of Clinton.
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