CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) checked anglers along the North Shore streams. The officer attended a meeting at Camp Ripley, handled nuisance animal calls, and worked bear hunters. Wahlstrom attended rifle and handgun training with Officer Oberg.
CO Mary Manning (Grand Marais East) followed up on a wanton waste bear case from the previous week as well as other bear season issues. The officer worked a busy small game opener; hunter numbers and birds seen appeared down a bit. Anglers were plentiful on Lake Superior tributaries as were the salmon they were pursuing; while still looking pretty decent, the salmon were not so apt to bite. Campers in state parks are reminded that they must use the new system to register for sites. Campsites that are unoccupied may be reserved already and not open for the taking; doing so will result in extra paperwork and an inconvenient move for violators.
CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports a very quiet grouse opener. A rainy forecast may have kept hunter numbers down. The grouse didn’t appear for hunters that did venture out as reports were poor. The officer did interrupt a hawk trying to make a meal out of a grouse as he rounded the corner in his squad. The hawk went back to its perch while the grouse flew away missing a few feathers. Pink salmon are spawning in pretty good numbers in the North Shore tributaries as good success was reported.
CO Troy Richards (Fergus Falls) reports that a motorist called in a complaint of persons potentially poaching game birds. Richards, along with the Otter Tail County sheriff ’s officer, located the vehicle. Three suspects were responsible for shooting ducks and turkeys out of season. They also didn’t possess any legal licenses if season was open. Citations were issued with various charges.
CO Shane Osborne (Evansville) handled several injured animal complaints including an injured sand hill crane that was scaring a farmer’s cows.
CO Matt Frericks (Virginia) followed up on reports of nuisance beaver activity that is threatening to wash out area roads. Unfortunately, the landowner of the property that the beaver dam is on is unwilling to allow the beaver to be trapped. Frericks advised USDA to seek a court order to remove the beaver.
CO Jim Guida (Brainerd) received a call from an individual who had experienced a nuisance bear earlier this spring. The individual stated that he put a container of cayenne pepper into the sunflower seeds, stirred it up, and that seemed to solve the problem with nuisance bears and also squirrels. He thought maybe he’d share that and others could benefit from the recipe.
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!
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