Conservation Officer report for Sept. 5

[Lee Borgersen]

9/9/2011 9:11:00 AM   
Conservation Officer report for Sept. 5

by DNR

District 5 - Eveleth area

CO Brad Schultz (Cook) reports checking area public accesses for compliance with weed and water removal from all watercraft and equipment. Compliance was excellent. Early season goose hunters were monitored. Opening day hunters did quite well. Boat and water safety work was completed. Bear hunters are reporting some success.

CO Don Bozovsky (Hibbing) checked on bear bait stations and worked the bear and early goose hunting openers, anglers, assisted the State Patrol with a DWI arrest, and handled a bull moose road kill that involved an injured driver. The officer assisted the Area Wildlife Manager with the moose necropsy. Bear hunters were doing well as many baits are being visited. Enforcement action was taken on fail to register bear bait station, bait bear with solid waste not bio-degradable, unlicensed watercraft and multiple angling without an angling license offenses.

CO Matt Frericks (Virginia) spent a busy Labor Day weekend checking people trying to pack as many activities as possible into a long weekend. Numerous bear hunters were checked and enforcement action was taken for unmarked bear baits. Early season goose hunters were out and most hunters did very well. Issues like trespassing and stamp violations were addressed. Several ATVs and OHMs were checked. Registration issues were dealt with.

CO Mark Fredin (Aurora) checked bear hunting throughout the week, with hunters reporting baits being hit and some bears taken. He received a complaint of hunter harassment stating a known person came into a hunter's bait station and yelled at the hunter to move because he was hunting in the person's area and threatened to damage the bear hunter's bait pile. Fredin located the man and found out he wasn't hunting, but teaching his 20-year-old son to hunt ethically. A check revealed neither the father nor son registered their bait station, so neither could hunt their baits. He received a complaint of shinning and shooting deer. Wild rice is going strong; one person found out that all ricers need a license, not just the one keeping the rice.

District 6 - Two Harbors area

CO John Velsvaag (Ely) checked bear hunters and anglers this past week. He also followed up on a litter complaint and some illegal bear baiting. CO Velsvaag took several calls on wild rice and a complaint on illegal ATV use.

CO Marty Stage (Ely) worked bear hunters, fishermen and ATVs throughout the week. A complaint was taken from an extremely angry landowner who reported that somebody had trespassed through his road barricades and stapled a poster to a 200 year old white pine on his property.

CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports he encountered every bear baiting violation, but one last week. One bait pile appeared that the hunter was cleaning out his freezer and dumping it in the woods. This individual was stopped on the road on his way to the bait with another load of garbage in the back of his truck, but he and his partner were given garbage bags by the CO and escorted to their five bait piles to pick up garbage left from last year and this year.



CO Mary Manning (Hovland) worked a busy bear hunting opening weekend. Warm weather and plentiful food made for challenging hunting. The officer also patrolled forest and park campgrounds, worked a boat and water safety patrol with CO Wahlstrom on Lake Superior, spent time at boat accesses educating boaters about invasive species, and check anglers on area lakes. A few more calls about possible cougar sightings were received as were a couple calls regarding bear hunters being harassed by other bear hunters. Enforcement action was taken for transporting a loaded firearm and failure to display valid boat registration.

CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Tofte) spent time checking bear hunters over the opening weekend and anglers on Lake Superior. While talking with bear hunters on their success, it seemed that more wolves were coming in to the bait piles than bears. Overall there were some nice bears taken. Enforcement action was taken for angling and hunting violations.

CO Dan Thomasen (Two Harbors) worked 2011 bear season throughout the past week. Some hunters and camps were found to be having decent success, while others struggled to keep bears coming to baits. Complaints of bait site tampering and competition for hunting space were received. Hunters should be reminded that public land is open to everyone, even other bear hunters. Enforcement action was taken for various bear hunting related violations.