Here are a couple more of my favorite DNR conservation officer tales from the month of February. Enjoy.
The fish that nearly got away

Minnesota DNR Conservation Officer Dustie Heaton of Willow River reported an angler caught a northern on one of his tip-ups. As he laid the fish on the ice, his other tip-up went up. While he was tending to that fish, a bald eagle swooped down and grabbed the first northern off the ice and proceeded to drag the tip up across the lake. The angler followed the eagle in his truck until it finally dropped the fish. The angler got his tip-up and fish back, although the fish had a few extra puncture wounds.

Rare, but legal

Minnesota DNR Conservation Officer Karl Hadrits of Crosby made contact with a large family that was having a get-together on an area lake. They were using about 40 tip-ups, and had taken about the same number of northern pike (40) and several walleye from a small area on the lake. Even with the large number of fish taken and lines out, they were well under their limit for both.

One smart wolf

Minnesota DNR Conservation Officer Marty Stage of Ely came across a timber wolf, commonly seen outside of Ely, standing next to the road. Stage went to town to run some errands. When he returned about a half-hour later, the wolf was still standing in the same exact place presumably waiting to cross the highway. After a vehicle behind the officer went by, the wolf finally crossed the highway.

Some bad advice

Minnesota DNR Conservation Officer Greg Verkuilen of Garrison reported three nonresident snowmobilers were stopped for not having trail permits displayed. They claimed when they bought the permits the store clerk told them not to bother attaching them because the DNR wouldn’t be out when it was this cold. That’s never the case.

The town cryer

Minnesota DNR Conservation Officer Paul Kuske of Pierz had an individual announce the presence of a conservation officer on the lake by going door-to-door telling people to reel up their extra lines and hide any extra fish. Despite the warning, an overlimit case was still made.

Here are the June “DNR Conservation Tales”
Do as I say, not as I do
Conservation Officer Tim Collette of Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area came across an angler that told the officer that he did not have a current license, but planned to get one when he went to work that day. When asked where he works, the man said he worked in the fishing department of a local sporting goods store! When asked how many times people had asked him when a new license was needed, the man admitted that he had answered that question many times and knew exactly when it was. Appropriate action was taken.
No excuse
Conservation Officer Randy Hanzal of Brookston stopped a boater just minutes before he was about to launch a boat carrying a livewell full of potentially contaminated water from a known infested waterway. The boater was educated both verbally and by written paper about the potential harmful effects of careless oversight.
Prior Laker makes the ‘tales’ with a tale
Conservation Officer Adam Block of Prior Lake reports an angler was arrested after giving his brother's name and date of birth to the Block. The angler did not have a fishing license but he knew his brother had recently purchased one. After the Block looked at the driver's license photo on his squad computer, of the name given to the officer, he pointed out to the angler that he had falsified his identity. The angler stated he was not aware Block could look up driver's license photos online in their patrol squads. The angler indicated someday technology is going to ruin the world. The angler became angry when he was informed he committed a gross misdemeanor crime by trying to elude a misdemeanor offense.
A typical fish story
Conservation Officer Alex Gutierrez of Forest Lake checked an angler coming off the St. Croix River with two walleye, which have to be a minimum of 15 inches. Gutierrez had the angler measure the fish himself with one of the walleye measuring about a quarter inch short of 15 inches. The angler got upset stating, "It's just barely short." The angry angler then called a nearby angler to come measure the fish. Gutierrez allowed this, in attempt to diffuse the situation, with the same result, a short fish. A citation was issued.
The voice of reason
Conservation Officer Brad Schultz of Cook reports working on fish run activity throughout the week. Numerous conversations were overheard about netting a bunch of these spawning fish so they could finally tell their wives that they caught fish when they went north for the fishing opener. Every time, the designated driver piped up and ordered his passengers into the truck before they did something "stupid."
Cashin’ in
Conservation Officer Kipp Duncan of Duluth witnessed a possible "once in a lifetime" event from an up and coming youth female bow hunter. The youth female finished a bow hunter class last month and was practicing at a local archery range with her new bow while her father and a friend watched. Duncan overheard her friend say, "I'll give you a million dollars if you robin-hood an arrow today." Duncan walked into the range area and watched her shoot an arrow into the bullseye. The officer said, "Now the pressure is on because I'm watching." The next arrow was a bullseye and also a robin-hood, which means the arrow stuck into the previous arrow perfectly. The girl started jumping around yelling to her friend, "You owe me a million dollars!"
Save the minnows
An angler told Conservation Officer Bret Grundmeier of Hinckley said he wasn't using an extra line but just trying to keep the minnow alive. The extra hook and minnow was ten feet out from the boat and suspended 8 feet deep under a bobber.
Should’ve stayed quiet
Conservation Officer Mike Martin of St. Cloud discovered an angler with 12 crappies in his bucket and still fishing (two fish over). Several of his friends saw the angler about to receive his summons and became vocal about the officer "picking on" their friend. The other anglers also said that the first guy was fishing with them so he wasn't over-limit. After investigating that they were in fact fishing together the 3 men were issued summons for the 21 crappies (un-cleaned) they had in addition to the 30 cleaned crappies in their cooler (21 fish over limit).
Nice try
Conservation Officer Mitch Sladek of Big Lake checked a gentleman for a fishing license on the Crow River. The guy said he had it up at the house so Sladek had him run up to get it. The gentleman returned 20+ minutes later minus a license. He said he had one but couldn't find it. Sladek called ELS and they informed him that the gentleman did indeed have a license. The gentleman jumped up and down in celebration. Sladek then asked the ELS agent when the man had purchased the license. The agent said, "About 10 minutes ago." The celebration was short-lived.