MN Conservation Officer Tales - August

[Dave]

ANSWERING THE CALL

Conservation Officer (CO) Jeremy Woinarowicz (Thief River Falls) answered a call of a mother mallard and her eight ducklings taking up temporary residency in a garage. With a little coaxing, mom led the family across the lawn to the river.

AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN

CO Tim Collette (Longville) reported a landowner was running the motor of his boat about half throttle, with the boat still in the lift, while he was in the water raking aquatic weeds from the bottom.

ONE LUCKY DUCK

A lone mallard duckling was observed trying to cross a busy divided highway, so CO Don Bozovsky (Hibbing) tried to capture the duck to keep it from being run over and to prevent a crash. Before he got turned around, the duckling caused a motor vehicle accident. None of the drivers was injured. The duck was released to a foster mallard and brood on a nearby lake.

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?

CO Randy Hanzal (Brookston) reported enforcement action was taken on a couple of nonresidents who drove their motorboat through a gaggle of geese and their babies, killing several of them. The driver of the boat said he didn't know it was illegal to drive through the geese and asked, "What am I supposed to do, wait until the geese move?"

LOOKING FOR THE LIGHT

Lake Superior Marine Unit CO's Chris Johnson, Keith Olson and Mike Scott report an intoxicated boater got on the radio to ask the Coast Guard to turn on the lights at the Superior Light House; however, it was not dark yet. The voice on the radio sounded a bit slurred and confused. Officers later stopped a boat without lights after sunset and found an impaired operator. The Coast Guard took the operator to their station for testing. The vessel was towed to Barker's Island.

WHY DID YOU DO THAT?

While fueling at a local gas station, CO Bruce Lawrence (Pine City) watched an adult female throw an empty beer can from her parked vehicle. When asked why she did it, she responded, "I didn't want to get an open bottle ticket." The woman was issued a citation for littering.

WEAK EXCUSES

CO Eric Schettler (Fairmont) came across a boat carrying four people who learned that a fishing license is needed to angle and that PFDs, are needed in the boat when on the water. When asked why they didn't have any PFDs they said, "We thought we didn't need any if we knew how to swim." When asked why they didn't have any angling licenses, they said the store they stopped at was all out.

OLD 'DYNAMITE' FOUND

CO Tony Anderson (Morris) assisted local police with a possible "old dynamite stick found" call at the Salvation Army shop in Morris. The item was determined to be an old road flare.

OFF-ROAD READY?

CO Greg Verkuilen (Garrison) observed a California resident attempting to drive a new Jeep Wrangler down an ATV trail in the ditch of a state highway. When Verkuilen asked to see some sort of registration, the operator pointed to a factory installed "Off-Road Ready" decal on the Jeep. The driver was provided an education on Minnesota's off-road vehicle laws.

LICENSE REQUIRED

CO Joe Frear (Waseca) reported a nonresident angler was issued a citation for angling without a license. The angler tried to tell the officer that he was fishing on a private lake and did not need a license. The man was on Clear Lake near Waseca.

UNDERSTANDABLY VERY UPSET

CO Mike Shelden (Alexandria) investigated a call in which a 13-year-old thought there were too many Canada geese in the family's back yard, so he threw rocks until one of the geese was injured and then killed it with a baseball bat. The next-door neighbors were understandably very upset.

[Northlander]

I heard the call and was at Barkers Island with Viking when the guy called asking for the lights to the Wi.Entry to be turned on. He did indead sound scmidtfaced. We watched as they towed his boat in. Funny thing is the name of the boat was Seagull wich is the same as Outdoorrans dads boat. No it wasnt his dad though.

The funny thing was once the Coast Guard asked for the boats position he quit calling back. The DNR later found the boat and turned him over to the Coast Guard I think.