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 Mary Manning (Hovland) completed office and equipment maintenance. Manning also patrolled snowmobile trails including those in nearby vacant stations. Manning also took a call from a woman who grazed a deer with her car, then watched as the deer ran back out of the ditch pursued closely by a wolf.
CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) spent the week checking anglers, snowmobilers and cross country skiers. Snowmobile trails were worked with area officers. Enforcement action was taken for registration, trail stickers and speed. The state and grant-in-aid trails are in excellent condition. Slush is still prevalent on area lakes.
CO Don Bozovsky (Hibbing) dealt with a snowmobile that rolled on its top as the driver wasn’t paying attention as the officer went by. Another sled that was stopped by the officer, was rear ended by the trailing sled. Other sleds were stopped for no registration and speeding, with one speeder failing to stop for the officer. That operator was eventually stopped and arrested for fleeing a peace officer, felony DWI, and a number of misdemeanor snowmobile offenses.
CO Mark Fredin (Aurora) worked speed enforcement along a state trail and encountered many speeding sleds with the fastest clocked at 94 mph. A husky and a golden lab dog were seen pulling a deer down on Bass Lake. A search of the area for the dogs resulted in many seeing the dogs running but no one knowing who they belong to.
CO Matt Miller (Lake Superior Marine Unit) checked on caller who reported finding a deer acting strangely near her home. The deer, which showed signs of extreme weakness, delirium, and a lack of coordination, had to be put down. Upon an initial check by DNR Wildlife staff, it was found that the deer’s stomach was stuffed with corn, and the deer suffered from various deadly conditions brought on by consumption of corn. A reminder to people who continue to feed wildlife in the winter — you may be doing much more harm than good. Artificial feeding of wildlife pulls them away from their normal safe winter habitat, and deer are not made to safely digest corn, especially in nonagricultural areas of our state.
CO Karl Hadrits (Crosby) reports an aircraft patrol of a remote area lake which turned up a case involving two individuals in possession of a large over-limit of very small-sized crappies, fishing with extra lines, wanton waste, and other fishing and snowmobile violations. Among the violator’s excuses for taking an over-limit of small fish was that they were “trying to kill off the small ones to improve the size of fish in the lake.”
Contact local DNR
Conservation Officers
to report violations
or ask questions:
Thomas Wahlstrom
218-663-7183
Darin Fagerman
218-387-9751
Mary Manning
218-475-0121
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