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) reports a very quiet week. There were a few snowmobilers left and anglers had lakes all to themselves.
CO Mary Manning (Hovland) checked anglers on inland lakes. Manning worked a detail in the Ely area with CO Velsvaag patrolling in the BWCAW and a detail with CO Bermel in the border country up the Gunflint Trail. She also took calls regarding pollution of Lake Superior, a recent land-trespass case and CWD in deer.
CO Shane Osborne (Evansville) checked anglers and ATV riders and took injured-animal complaints. A complaint of two deer and a trumpeter swan shined and shot in Millerville Township in Douglas County was received and investigated.
CO Mark Mathy (Cass Lake) responded to a call of a sick moose that turned out to be a healthy juvenile that was relatively tame.
CO Don Bozovsky (Hibbing) responded to a call of eagles that locked talons and ended up in a creek. The eagles were separated and flew away.
CO Matt Frericks (Virginia) followed up on an incident where an owner of a fish house cut off most of the shelter after it sunk into the slush and burned the remaining parts of it. The owner found out that was not a good idea and was cited for burning prohibited materials.
CO Bob Mlynar (Aitkin) reports that a mink was relocated to where it was less likely to continue eating chickens.
CO Joyce Kuske (Little Falls) investigated a call of an unidentifiable green slime that was dumped in a road ditch and a report of household garbage dumped along a township road. The garbage was found to have been dumped by the same person that Kuske found had dumped garbage earlier in the month.
Contact was made with a parent driving an ATV with a toddler passenger with no helmet on. The parent knew the child needed a helmet but didn’t put one on and asked if a bike helmet would be OK. The parent was educated that the helmet must be a DOT-certified helmet, not a bicycle helmet.
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