Weekly Conservation Officer Reports
Feb 23, 2022 09:41AM ● By Editor
District 6 - Two Harbors Area - From the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources - February 22, 2022
CO Sean Williams (Ely #1) reports there was extremely heavy snowmobile activity over the long holiday weekend. Angling activity and success was moderate and seemed to taper off towards the end of the week. Violations included angling on a designated trout lake without a stamp, excessive snowmobile speed, and operating a snowmobile on a roadway.
CO John Velsvaag (Ely #2) checked trout anglers and snowmobilers this past week. Slush continues to be a problems in some areas and trail conditions are very good for sleds. Velsvaag took several calls on the statewide length limits for northern pike.
CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Grand Marais) checked anglers and monitored snowmobile activity in the area. He responded to a snowmobile accident and handled nuisance-animal calls. Enforcement action was taken for snowmobile violations.
CO Anthony Bermel (Babbitt) worked a busy week of winter activity. Weekend snowmobile activity was extremely heavy. Plenty of enforcement action to report, including expired snowmobile registration, no trail sticker, careless operation, illegal speed, loud exhaust, unattended lines, extra lines, fishing without a license, fishing after revocation, and no ski pass. In one noteworthy contact, an individual was stopped twice the same afternoon in two different locations for substantially exceeding the snowmobile speed limit. In another contact, an angler on Lake Vermilion was observed reeling in his extra line before permitting entry into his fish house. Bermel recognized the angler?s name and discovered he had issued the same angler an extra-line citation last winter on Lake Vermilion and the angler?s angling privileges were currently revoked.
CO David Schottenbauer (Silver Bay) worked area angling and snowmobile activity this past week. Trails are being hit hard, and there were a couple of times where riders were trying to cut corners and almost ran Schottenbauer off the road. They were stopped and the issue was addressed.
CO Kylan Hill (Tofte) reports a snowmobile-themed week in Cook County. A law and ethics presentation was given to 27 students at Cook County High School taking snowmobile safety. Hill hit the trails and saw very high snowmobile activity with excellent compliance and very few violations. A couple of missing registration stickers were handled. Speed was the focus over the weekend and multiple people were stopped for violating the 50 mile per hour speed limit. A snowmobile-trespass complaint was fielded in Lutsen.
CO Don Murray (Two Harbors) worked snowmobile and angling activity this week. Area trails are in excellent condition and activity has been high. Riders are reminded to stay on designated trails to avoid trespassing onto private property and to be courteous to other riders on the trail.
CO Sean Williams (Ely #1) reports there was extremely heavy snowmobile activity over the long holiday weekend. Angling activity and success was moderate and seemed to taper off towards the end of the week. Violations included angling on a designated trout lake without a stamp, excessive snowmobile speed, and operating a snowmobile on a roadway.
CO John Velsvaag (Ely #2) checked trout anglers and snowmobilers this past week. Slush continues to be a problems in some areas and trail conditions are very good for sleds. Velsvaag took several calls on the statewide length limits for northern pike.
CO Thomas Wahlstrom (Grand Marais) checked anglers and monitored snowmobile activity in the area. He responded to a snowmobile accident and handled nuisance-animal calls. Enforcement action was taken for snowmobile violations.
CO Anthony Bermel (Babbitt) worked a busy week of winter activity. Weekend snowmobile activity was extremely heavy. Plenty of enforcement action to report, including expired snowmobile registration, no trail sticker, careless operation, illegal speed, loud exhaust, unattended lines, extra lines, fishing without a license, fishing after revocation, and no ski pass. In one noteworthy contact, an individual was stopped twice the same afternoon in two different locations for substantially exceeding the snowmobile speed limit. In another contact, an angler on Lake Vermilion was observed reeling in his extra line before permitting entry into his fish house. Bermel recognized the angler?s name and discovered he had issued the same angler an extra-line citation last winter on Lake Vermilion and the angler?s angling privileges were currently revoked.
CO David Schottenbauer (Silver Bay) worked area angling and snowmobile activity this past week. Trails are being hit hard, and there were a couple of times where riders were trying to cut corners and almost ran Schottenbauer off the road. They were stopped and the issue was addressed.
CO Kylan Hill (Tofte) reports a snowmobile-themed week in Cook County. A law and ethics presentation was given to 27 students at Cook County High School taking snowmobile safety. Hill hit the trails and saw very high snowmobile activity with excellent compliance and very few violations. A couple of missing registration stickers were handled. Speed was the focus over the weekend and multiple people were stopped for violating the 50 mile per hour speed limit. A snowmobile-trespass complaint was fielded in Lutsen.
CO Don Murray (Two Harbors) worked snowmobile and angling activity this week. Area trails are in excellent condition and activity has been high. Riders are reminded to stay on designated trails to avoid trespassing onto private property and to be courteous to other riders on the trail.
