Weekly C Officer Report

[Lee Borgersen]

  MN DNR Weekly Report 

By MN DNR on Nov 13, 2018

District 5 - Eveleth area

CO Darrin Kittelson (International Falls #1) began his first week of Step 3 FTO training with COC Blong Lor. They spent time working the second week of deer firearms season, with hunters reporting great success over the week and weekend. Violations included lending/borrowing of tags, shooting from the roadway, failure to validate, and failure to register.


CO John Slatinski (Ray) reports deer-hunting activity was the main focus of a busy week. Site tag validation, lending and borrowing tags, and registration were the most common violations. He worked with the Forestry Division on a spruce top cutting incident where a person was educated on requirements to legally harvest forest resources. Injured and road-killed animal reports were handled. Slatinski met with one landowner who located an offal pile from a deer on an approach to their property and along with neighboring officers met with another landowner who had located a dead deer on their property.

CO Troy Fondie (Orr) reports another week of lower hunting success, fewer hunters and fewer deer observed harvested. Hunters reported a lack of deer. Wind, rain, snow and cold weather have arrived further diminishing hunting activities. Fondie continued work on equipment and administrative reporting.

CO Duke Broughten (Cook) spent the week monitoring hunting and ATV activity. He continued to work deer-hunting activity. More violations of hunting deer over bait were encountered. Several calls of shooting deer from the roadway were investigated. Enforcement action included hunting deer over bait, transporting a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle, untagged deer, failure to validate a deer site tag, failure to register deer, and transporting an illegally taken big game animal.

CO Marc Hopkins (Tower) spent most of the week dealing with deer-hunting issues. He took enforcement action on the following violations: loaded firearms in a motor vehicle, shooting from the roadway, discharge of firearm less than 500 feet from a dwelling, and trespassing. Hopkins also took a call of hunters fighting. A bull moose head was found and is under investigation.

CO Don Bozovsky (Hibbing) worked deer-hunting activity during the week. Deer baiting complaints tapered off, but continue to be worked. Folks changed tactics and started to shoot deer from the roadway and having loaded guns in their vehicles. On a positive note, Bozovsky checked a father and two daughters who were deer hunting. They were doing it right and had successful hunts. The 10-year-old daughter, grinning from ear to ear, shot her first buck and the 14-year-old daughter shot her second buck of the season (party hunting). Dad was happy to tag the second buck, as most dads would be. Enforcement action was taken for transporting loaded firearms, failure to validate a deer site tag, operating an ATV during the closed hours for deer hunting, unregistered ATV, illegally possessing a firearm and blaze orange violations.


CO Matt Frericks (Virginia) spent a majority of his time checking deer hunters and preparing reports for court. With colder weather setting in, the reports of people shooting from the roadway increased dramatically. In one case, Frericks took a TIP call of a person who was only seen dragging a deer out of the woods then putting it in a truck and leaving. When Frericks arrived at the site where the person left from, it appeared that the deer was likely shot from the road. When Frericks found the owner of the vehicle at his house, before he could ask any questions, the hunter said, “Yeah I shot from the road.” Enforcement action continues to be taken against “hunters” who are intent on using bait to take deer. Every one of the hunters caught has had their rifle seized and were issued citations. Some people say bait works for deer. In fact, there is another critter of the woods that deer bait is absolutely, positively, guaranteed to attract. That critter of the woods is a two-legged, green-pants wearing State of Minnesota conservation officer.     

CO Mark Fredin (Aurora) found hunter numbers down from past years; snow and cold may be a reason. Wolf sightings are up from past years. One hunter who has property outside of town saw no deer but spotted 10 wolves. Fredin assisted a neighboring officer with a large litter dumping case. Lazy hunters/poachers have started hunting from the vehicle, as COs fielded many complaints of shooting from the road at deer. Fredin investigated an accidental shooting of a cow moose.

International Falls #2 – vacant.

District 6 - Two Harbors area
CO Sean Williams (Ely #1) reports cold weather took hold in the Ely area and after a week of below-freezing weather the small lakes are now frozen over with ice. Deer-hunting success seems to be fair overall around the city, with much fewer deer being reported up the Echo Trail. Williams assisted area officers with an investigation of a deer being shot from a roadway and trespassing.

CO John Velsvaag (Ely #2) checked deer hunters and netters this past week. Deer hunting was slow and some lakes skimmed over with ice on the weekend. Several calls about nuisance animals were received as well as about the new pike regulation in regards to spearing.

CO Darin Fagerman (Grand Marais) reports most of the small inland lakes have frozen over, but it’s going to take more cold weather before anyone should even think of venturing out. Ice picks should always be at the ready, but that’s especially try on early ice. Baited deer stands were checked and assistance was given at an ATV safety field day.

CO Mary Manning (Hovland) checked deer hunters, stands, and deer camps. Manning helped with an ATV safety class field day at Cook County Schools. Snowfall in the Arrowhead is making travel conditions on unplowed forest roads more challenging and folks are reminded to be prepared and know the route before getting too far down the road.

CO Anthony Bermel (Babbitt) reports average activity and fair success for deer hunters, although the deer population seems to be nearly nonexistent in the Tomahawk and Isabella area. Numerous enforcement contacts were made for violations such as untagged deer, failure to validate a deer tag, failure to register a deer, permitting unlawful hunting by a minor, shooting within 500 feet of a house, litter, and several instances of transporting a loaded firearm.

CO David Schottenbauer (Silver Bay) worked area hunting again this week. COC Ben Karon has returned for his final phase of training before hitting the field on his own.

CO Don Murray (Two Harbors) worked a busy second weekend of the firearms deer season. Most camps reported seeing deer with fresh tracking snow and many had deer hanging on the camp pole. Big-game hunting investigations continued this week with enforcement action taken for no license in possession, taking deer over bait, untagged deer, and failure to validate a deer tag. Even with severe penalties such as license revocation and firearms forfeiture, some hunters still choose to illegally hunt over bait.

District 7 - Grand Rapids area
CO Randy Patten (Northome) checked deer hunters, investigated complaints about deer-hunting violations, and assisted in the search for a lost hunter. Enforcement action was taken for operating an ATV during closed hours, lending/borrowing a deer license, illegal party hunting, illegally transporting big game, and failure to validate a deer site tag.

CO Jayson Hansen (Bigfork) and COC Nathan Benkofske worked deer-hunting activity. Enforcement action was taken for unregistered deer, overlimits, lending and borrowing of tags, parent directing a minor to violate the hunting laws, taking an antlerless deer without a permit, tagging violations, no blaze orange, hunting without a license, transporting loaded firearms, and possession of drug paraphernalia. They also assisted Itasca County with a search for a lost hunter.

CO Mike Fairbanks (Deer River) checked deer hunters, investigated baiting complaints, assisted with a medical alongside the road and checked waterfowl hunters. Fairbanks and his K9 partner Si also assisted with a felon in possession case. Si was able to locate a spent rifle casing, rifle and articles of clothing that had been left in the woods. Enforcement action was taken for license issues and failure to register deer.

CO Sarah Grell (Grand Rapids) worked firearms deer-hunting activity. She followed up on open investigations related to deer poaching. Grell reports that with the snow in the woods hunting pressure has lessened. She took various enforcement actions over the course of the week as they related to taking deer illegally.

CO Thomas Sutherland (Grand Rapids) and COC Taylor Hochstein focused on deer-hunting activities throughout the week. Numerous deer camps were checked with limited overall success. Hunters reported the deer were starting to move more toward the end of the second weekend of hunting. Enforcement actions were taken for big-game violations and cutting balsam boughs without a permit.

CO Jimmy Van Asch (Pengilly) reports with the second weekend of the firearms deer season underway, the focus was primarily on big-game enforcement. Neighboring officers and Van Asch assisted the Itasca County Sheriff’s Office with a search for a lost hunter. The hunter was successfully located and treated for hypothermia and frostbite. Enforcement action was taken for unlawful party hunting, unlawful transportation of wild animals, untagged big-game animals, failing to validate deer licenses, and lending/borrowing or transferring a deer license.

Hill City – vacant.

NE ATV officer – vacant.

District 8 - Duluth area
CO Jacob Willis (Brookston) had a busy week with firearms deer season in full swing. One of multiple TIP calls resulted in a citation being issued for agricultural trespass when the caller had an individual shoot a deer in the field he was sitting in. Property disputes were mediated and a group of hunters were assisted in retrieving a deer they had legally taken that had run on to a neighboring posted property.

CO Kipp Duncan (Duluth East) and COC Leah Kampa worked together for the second weekend of deer hunting. Hunter harassment complaints were investigated, contacts were made with hunters and a few hunters had success with harvesting a deer. An ATV special permit was issued and enforcement actions taken during the week included discharging a firearm from the road right of way, untagged deer, failure to validate a tag, blaze orange requirements, no license in possession while hunting and illegal party hunting.

CO Jeff Humphrey (Cromwell) reports firearms deer season work continued throughout the week. Deer hunters were reporting a much slower week. Calls and complaints of trespass, shooting from the roadway, licensing and illegal ATV operation were received. Humphrey assisted in search efforts for a missing hunter in Pine County. The first ice angler of the season was checked and educated on ice conditions. Extreme caution is advised if even considering going out on the ice. Commercial checks were conducted on bough and spruce top harvesters.  Several big-game, OHV, angling and commercial violations were encountered

CO Scott Staples (Carlton) worked trespassing complaints and assisted with shooting from the road complaints with K9 Schody. Complaints of hunting deer over bait, motor vehicles unlawfully operating on state trails, and illegal ATV operation were received and investigated in the area. Enforcement action was taken for license violations.

Lake Superior Marine Unit
CO Keith Olson (Lake Superior Marine Unit) worked deer hunting in the Duluth, Two Harbors and Cotton areas. The cooler weather and snowfall have improved the hunting as of late. Enforcement actions taken for transporting loaded firearms, tagging-related issues and hunting over bait.

CO Matt Miller (Lake Superior Unit) and COC Tony Elwell conducted big-game patrols near Two Harbors. The pair saw low numbers of hunters out this weekend as deer-hunting success seemed to be less than desirable. Enforcement action was taken for transporting a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle.

Lake Superior Unit – vacant.