CO Mary Manning (Grand Marais East) worked a chilly BWCAW trout opener with CO Wahlstrom and CO Schottenbauer. The officers found hearty anglers who were having reasonable success. The officers also patrolled area lakes and snowmobile trails and found good compliance among the groups they checked. Trails had good snow cover, but conditions are a bit rough yet. Manning also took calls about road kill deer and snowmobile operation by non-resident youth.
CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports that not many anglers braved the frigid conditions for the BWCA trout opener. Fagerman worked with CO Duncan and the U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer. Snowmobile registration and BWCA violations were encountered.
CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) worked the trout opener in the BWCAW with area officers. The temps were very cold and few trout were in the bag. Enforcement action was taken for angling and snowmobile violations.
CO Sean Williams (Ely) reports a severely cold start to the BWCA trout opener. Very few anglers ventured out into the wilderness over the weekend with wind chill values colder than -40. Those who did go out had excellent luck on large rainbow trout.
CO Mike Krauel (Milaca) reports that anglers were finding moderate success even though the temperatures were so cold. One individual, who was experiencing slow fishing, decided to try angling with a few too many lines. When that individual saw CO Krauel, he quickly pulled the line out of the water and hid it behind him. When asked about the rod behind him, the individual stated the line had not been in the water at all that day. When the individual handed the rod to Krauel, he was surprised to see there was a fish on the hook! In his rush to hide the line, the individual had not noticed he had caught a fish while reeling the line up!
CO Jim Guida (Brainerd) was informed by a passerby of a car-killed mountain lion on the roadway near Pillager. It turned out to be a dead whitetail deer.
CO Eric Sullivan (Pequot Lakes) reports that people were enjoying the start to the ice fishing season for the most part, but one angler was very upset that the game warden would knock on his shelter at 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday night to check a fishing license. CO Sullivan observed four unattended lines being used by the subject and enforcement action was taken.
CO Dan Starr (Onamia) checked on a vehicle that had just ran into the ditch to find it was stolen. The suspects were walking from the scene and the responsible person was arrested after a brief altercation with the conservation officer. Charges will also be filed for multiple narcotics charges in addition to stealing the car.
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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