11/22/09 Report (Dist. 6-11)

[Woody]

  for the delay in posting these.

District 6 - Two Harbors area
11/22

CO John Velsvaag (Ely) checked deer hunters this past week. CO Velsvaag received complaints on baiting, hunter harassment and shooting late. CO Velsvaag took several calls on whitefish netting and cisco netting.

CO Marty Stage (Ely) worked illegal deer baiting throughout the week. The difficulty some hunters had with getting their deer appeared to be justifying in their minds the continued use of illegal bait. Several guns were seized and fines have been imposed. Kids and parents in Ely and Winton specifically are reminded that it is not legal for kids without driver’s licenses to be driving ATVs on any roadways.

CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) continued to follow up on complaints from the deer season. Illegal deer baiting activity was monitored and trespass issues are being investigated. Reports from hunters on the amount of deer harvested seem to be down from previous years. The Officer also checked trapping activity.

CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) took complaints of road hunting and trespass during the week. The CO found a few bear bait stations still up in the woods in violation of the law. Once the Vikings’ game started Sunday, the deer season was pretty much over for most.

CO Mary Manning (Hovland) checked deer and grouse hunters. CO Manning also continued investigating reports of deer being hunted over bait. The officer continues to receive calls from individuals confused by the new uncased gun laws; hunters are reminded that long guns must be cased, in addition to being unloaded when in a city that doesn’t allow the discharge of firearms (like Grand Marais). Manning also investigated a party who drove a truck on the state snowmobile trail to dump a pair of deer carcasses and followed up on a complaint of a person living on MNDOT land.

CO Dan Thomasen (Two Harbors) looked into a possible shoreline violation which was then handed over to county planning and zoning. Deer season continued to be slower right up to its close. More hunters were observed on the move in vehicles, combing the area looking to fill tags. While the officer did not find anyone shooting from the roadway, numerous hunters were reminded to be careful of what they were doing and to stay legal. While walking a trail looking for hunters to check, CO Thomasen had the feeling he was being watched. Looking up in a large spruce tree, the officer spotted a camo-clad hunter. After a license check and interview with the hunter, it was discovered that his entire hunting party was not wearing any blaze orange while in their stands. Enforcement action was taken and blaze orange requirements explained.

Babbitt - vacant.

Silver Bay - vacant.



District 7 - Grand Rapids area
11/22

CO Jeff Koehn (Grand Rapids - OHV Specialist) patrolled for OHV activity. He spent time patrolling for deer hunters using their ATVs to access hunting locations. He worked on some follow up for a trespassing case. CO Koehn assisted CO Sindelir with a TIP call about illegal deer being poached. He responded to a report of a waterfowl hunter shooting towards homes from a lake. CO Koehn was called out and responded to a deer being poached from a vehicle on a roadway at night; the dead deer was recovered and the case is still under investigation.

CO Gary Lefebvre (Pengilly) checked trappers, ATVs, deer hunters and state parks. He responded to several complaints during the week. Hunters in the area were disappointed in the number of deer noticeably absent from the woods this season.

CO Sarah Sindelir (Grand Rapids) finished up on some ongoing investigations involving deer carcasses. She also did a flight of her station and the Big Fork area following up on deer hunting complaints. She received a TIP call where enforcement action was taken for illegally transporting a big game animal.

CO Jon Paurus (Hill City) spent the majority of the week following up on even more baiting complaints. Apparently losing a rifle and paying nearly $400 in fines and fees is not enough to dissuade some hunters. The firearms deer season ended with most hunters reporting limited success.

CO Randy Patten (Northome) checked bough buyers, small game hunters, and deer hunters over the week. He handled calls on an accidentally caught bobcat, an injured pelican, shooting from the roadway, trespass, shining, and road hunting.

CO Thomas Sutherland (Grand Rapids) worked baiting activity over the last week with many new calls on baiting complaints from deer hunters. Enforcement action was taken when a group of individuals decided to use pumpkins to lure deer into their stands. Rifles were also seized from the participants hunting over the bait. Enforcement action was also taken for hunting deer without a license, trespassing and illegal party hunting.

Bigfork - vacant.


District 8 - Cloquet area
11/22

CO Jeff Humphrey (Cloquet) reports deer hunters in the area were reporting mixed success over the week. Enforcement efforts focused on illegal road hunting and shining activity. Several ATV use and carcass dumping complaints were received. Misc. deer hunting violations were dealt with.

CO Andy Schmidt (Brookston) continued working the firearms deer season. The officer followed up on complaints regarding bait, shoot from the roadway and shining. One hunter called to report that he had mistakenly shot a cow moose. He believed he was shooting at a whitetail doe and did not realize it was a moose until it ran broadside in front of him. Enforcement contacts for the week included hunting big game without a license, shoot from the roadway, no blaze orange, deer over-limit, failure to validate/tag and misc. ATV issues.

CO Scott Staples (Carlton) responded to trespass and ATV complaints to finish out the 2009 firearms deer season. One call received this past weekend was from a hunter that reported he shot a bear. An investigation was conducted and it was found that the hunter was sitting on the ground near an edge of a field deer hunting and fell asleep. When he woke up, a bear was standing less than two feet from where he was. Immediately fearing for his life he shot the bear. The bear was given to a person in the area that is going to use it so it does not go to waste. Some trapping activity in the area was worked.

CO Randy Hanzal (Duluth) reports that after receiving a complaint from a group of hunters about people shooting from the roadway a decoy was placed nearby. A short time later one of the original complainants was caught shooting at the decoy from within the road right-of-way himself. A moose was recovered and salvaged after a hunter accidentally shot it, mistaking it for a deer. Hunting without a license, hunter harassment, shoot from a roadway, gross misdemeanor shining, fail to register deer and no current registration on ATV were other violations encountered during the week.

CO Kipp Duncan (Duluth) took several calls of dumping deer carcasses. A couple of hunter harassment calls were investigated. Time was spent working road hunting complaint areas. A couple of trespass complaints were also investigated. He assisted with two dead moose calls which involved getting samples to wildlife biologists for their moose research.



District 9 - Brainerd area
11/22

CO Nikki Shoutz (Pine River) focused on the close of the 2009 firearms deer season in zone one. She also had to shift gears for a short time to talk about the snowmobile laws at the Pine River Snowmobile Safety Class. The operator test will be held as soon as snow flies. Enforcement action was taken for loaded/uncased firearms on ATVs, operating ATVs in closed hours, fail to register deer (before butchering) and hunting deer with no license. A TIP call reporting the shooting of a timber wolf was investigated. Fall burning issues were also handled. A burning permit is required to burn outdoors until the time that there is three inches of snow on the ground.

CO Cary Shoutz (Crosslake) reports deer harvest slow, as most hunters complained about having seen few deer. Shoutz took enforcement action on a trespass issue, an ATV operating in a wetland and continues investigation on an illegal party hunting case.

CO Jim Guida (Brainerd) worked firearms deer season in neighboring stations. A late night shining detail was worked and checks of area deer registrations were done.

CO Karl Hadrits (Crosby) reports a concerned hunter who turned in some poachers in a drive-by deer shooting incident recently turned in another drive-by shooter this past weekend in the exact same spot. Two individuals involved in the incident were located and found to have committed numerous violations including trespassing on posted land, possession of marijuana, and transporting loaded firearm. The concerned hunter who called in the violations will receive rewards from the TIP (Turn In Poachers) program.

CO Tim Collette (Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area) worked the 100 series areas of the deer season. Complaints of trespassing, hunter harassment, and illegal deer baiting were investigated. Other enforcement activity included operating ATVs on public roadways, allowing illegal juvenile ATV operation, youth operating ATVs without the required safety training, transporting loaded firearms in motor vehicles, and removal of aquatic vegetation without a permit.

CO Bob Mlynar (Aitkin) checked deer hunters and worked shining complaints. He also assisted the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Department with mailbox vandalism and answered a deer hunter’s questions via cell phone while the hunter was in his stand. My how things have changed!

CO Brent Speldrich (McGregor) continued receiving TIP complaints regarding illegal baiting. During the week, he investigated seven such complaints. Two resulted in citations for hunting over bait, in the other cases, no hunter was found on the stand. Two firearms were seized when officers entered a property known to have baited stands. While investigating the complaint, two hunters were found to be on stand, while having fresh cracked corn and feed blocks near the stands. He also investigated reports of trespass, shooting from the roadway, illegal ATV use, assisted with the Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge hunt and completed investigation reports.

CO Chad Sherack (Pequot Lakes) followed up on previous deer hunting complaints and worked deer shining complaints. Officer Sherack encountered violations such as trespass, unregistered deer, untagged deer, and shining after hours. Officer Sherack is finding many successful hunters are failing to register their deer legally or even at all. Officer Sherack is also spending copious hours following up on illegally dumped deer carcasses. Officer Sherack reminds hunters to dispose of carcasses properly.

CO Randy Posner (Brainerd) continued to work on deer hunting issues such as trespass, untagged deer and deer carcass dumping complaints. Duck and goose hunters continue to try their luck. A report of goose hunters in the Crow Wing State Park was investigated and enforcement action taken. The suspect knew he was in the state park but believed he could hunt on the water. The anglers have slowed down and the fishing success has been poor. He also worked on a litter and wanton waste complaint of dumped pheasants and grouse. Deer shining and vehicles damaging property complaints also received some enforcement time.


District 10 - Mille Lacs area
11/22


CO Scott Fitzgerald (Malmo) reports working the final week of the firearms deer season. Complaints of shooting from a motor vehicle, ATVs being operated during closed hours and illegal shining. He monitored shining activity during the week and worked a detail with Officer Lee (Isle) in which a party shot at a deer decoy from inside the motor vehicle in to private property. Enforcement action was taken for multiple violations. Follow up was also done on several cases from the previous week. Car kill deer permits were also issued during the week.

CO Dustie Heaton (Willow River) investigated baiting, shoot after closed hours and shining complaints. CO Hunter (Park Rapids) assisted Heaton with baiting complaints. She followed up on trespass complaints and assisted CO Grundmeier (Hinckley) with hunter harassment, baiting and other complaints. A reminder for those wanting to report illegal baiting: If you have information about someone baiting, please report it as soon as possible. Getting the information early is crucial to catching them hunting over the bait.

CO Luke Croatt (Wealthwood) monitored duck and deer hunting activity throughout the week. Duck activity remained slow with few hunters out. Smaller lakes were starting to freeze over. Deer hunting activity was slower. Croatt assisted neighboring officer with a baiting complaint. Two parties were found on stand hunting over bait. PVC feeders painted camouflage and guns were seized. Croatt also issued several car-killed deer permits.

CO Greg Verkuilen (Garrison) worked the last week of Zone 100 deer season where hunters continued to see less deer than they were use to in previous season. That lack of deer may explain the trespassing complaints as hunters wandered across property lines or hunted too close to residences. Several deer salvage tags were issued including a fawn that the CO saw fatally injured when it ran into a fence. A few trappers were checked who were eager for some cold weather to make the furbearers move more.

CO Bret Grundmeier (Hinckley) saw an increase in waterfowl hunters during the week. Goose hunters were having luck setting up in recently harvested corn fields. Deer hunters out during the final week of deer season reported seeing very few deer. Quite a number of hunting groups also commented about seeing more timber wolves than in the past. One hunter said he saw wolves near his deer stand on 21 different occasions. Violations and complaints dealt with included illegal party hunting for deer, deer hunting in a state park, hunter harassment, trespassing, shining, and shooting from the roadway.

CO Mike Lee (Isle) continued checking deer hunters with success rates dropping amongst hunters. Officer Lee received more trespassing complaints this past week, but the incidents happened the weekend before. Please call while the incident or violation is occurring or as soon thereafter as you can. Officer Lee worked a decoy detail with a fellow officer. During the detail an individual shot the decoy resulting in numerous violations for the individual.

CO Eugene Wynn (Pine City) continued to work the deer season through the week. CO Wynn received complaints regarding hunting in a state park, trespassing, and dogs chasing deer. He investigated a sheep depredation complaint, checked numerous deer hunters out in the field, and assisted CO Grundmeier with deer season interviews over the weekend.


District 11 - Albany area
11/22

CO Robert Haberman (Little Falls) investigated shining complaints and trespassing complaints earlier in the week. CO Haberman checked waterfowl hunters on local lakes and rivers. CO Haberman conducted trap checks throughout the area.

CO Paul Kuske (Pierz) received a number of calls regarding the dumping of deer carcasses. In one such incident, someone dumped five deer along the roadside. Two of the deer were not even butchered. The remaining three deer were partially butchered, some with whole quarters still intact. TIP calls continue to come in and investigations were conducted regarding unregistered deer, illegally taken deer, baiting complaints and deer shining. CO Kuske gave a presentation to the Pierz Lions Club on the ever changing and variety filled job of a conservation officer.

CO Keith Bertram (Sauk Centre) spent most of the week finishing deer cases. An illegal wild turkey investigation was completed, with a citation issued. CO Bertram attended training.

CO Todd VanderWeyst (Paynesville) reports attending training. The officer followed up on deer investigations, including illegal party hunting and another case involving adults using the youth tag. Waterfowl hunters are seeing limited success.

CO Chad Thesing (Albany) spent the week following up on deer cases from the firearms season and working deer shining complaint areas. A few more pheasants are being seen, with some of the corn starting to come out. CO Thesing gave talks to the Albany Nursing Home and Career Day at Albany High School. Enforcement action for the week included gross misdemeanor shining.

CO Mike Martin (St. Cloud) worked several deer shining details in the local area during the past week. A small buck was taken out of season and an investigation is ongoing. Radio training was attended.

CO Brian Mies (Annandale) worked on several dumping complaints. CO Mies checked pheasant hunters and goose hunters. CO Mies worked on a TIP call.

CO Rhonda Keniston (Long Prairie) continued investigations on firearms deer violations. Hunters were checked. Few pheasants were taken. Angling continued to be slow. CO Keniston attended training.