MN DNR Licensing Good And Bad News

joe-winter wrote:

Gimruis……. never been checked?? fishing Mille Lacs, Red and Pool 4 means fairly routine checks …. but hell I have been checked at the landing at Eagle Lake (tiny lake in Blue Earth county)…

I know its hard to believe but its true! I fish Mille Lacs a fair amount (used to more). And I deer hunted for 25 years in the Chippewa National Forest too. Not once since I was 12 years old. My Father did four years ago but I was not with him.

I did run into a Hennepin County Water Patrol on Minnetonka once many years ago. We were in a 16 foot tiller fishing boat, and it was a week after opener. They checked our PFDs, throwable, and watercraft registration. Never even checked our angling licenses.

And I do routinely run into the AIS surveyors at public accesses. But they are just asking questions, they are not law enforcement.

I bet I get checked fishing chisago area, st croix river and the bigger lakes at least 5 times a year. Hell I’ve been checked 2 maybe 3 times this season so far

hillhiker wrote:

You must not fish enough Gimruis

I fish about 35 times/season between April – October. I would like to go more but that is another topic for another day.

I hunt spring turkeys, deer firearms, and pheasant hunt about twice a week for a month and a half after deer season. Also used to waterfowl hunt a few times/season.

I’ve been doing this for about 25 years or more here. And literally not once been checked.

The majority of the time I am hunting on private land though, so maybe that is part of it. I used to work for the DNR so perhaps they don’t worry about former employees?

I’ve only been checked twice in open water and that was on the Rainy River in the same weekend. I fish quite a bit, average 3 or 4 times a week in the open water season in the Brainerd area and have never been checked. However I’ve been checked a good half dozen times on the ice.

I don’t like being a slave to my cell phone and I prefer paper copies. I make multiple copies of my wife and my fishing licenses and multiple photo copies of our driver’s licenses and put copies in my wallet, in the truck and in the boat and I keep them in plastic holders. If I ever need another copy, I just go online and print one off or make more photocopies of our licenses. It’s pretty easy to do.

I’ve only presented a photo of my license on my phone the last several years I’ve been checked and not one CO has said anything other than “thank you”. Most of the times I’ve been checked, its in the BWCA. I love the strong enforcement up there.

I have a lifetime fishing license. I wanted them to add it to my driver license and they couldn’t. I still have to get it reprinted every year or I can get a ticket for not having a license. I hope they address this with the new app. Only twice I have gotten a new license without a problem. Most of the problems were minor and just took extra time for them to figure out. 8 times (give or take) I have been told they can’t give me a license and I need to go some where else.

I have been checked more than a dozen times over the years in just MN. Must be my face. Twice in ND.

Rodwork wrote:

I have a lifetime fishing license. I wanted them to add it to my driver license and they couldn’t. I still have to get it reprinted every year or I can get a ticket for not having a license.

The lifetime license thing is weird and adding it to your DL makes way too much sense. Technically they don’t even accept the original hard card that came when I bought the lifetime license, not that I’d ever carry that anyway. In reality though I’ve been checked a few times without “buying” my lifetime renewal for the year and never got ticketed. I’ve been checked a lot and have a strong opinion that 99% of CO’s are good reasonable people.

gimruis wrote:

But then again, I’ve never been checked by a CO either.

This is Wild

I am in an area between Mille Lacs and Little Falls that doesn’t have a bajillion lakes but does have a dedicated C.O., not to mention the Mille Lacs C.O.s and Little Falls C.O. that will sometimes encounter. I’d say in an average year, I get checked three times and average another encounter where I don’t get checked because the C.O. remembers me. Haven’t been checked this year, but didn’t really icefish, and I haven’t put in a long day at the Grumpy Old Man Hole yet. The GOMH is a drive-by violation station. I’ve witnessed three people get pinched there over the years for not having a license.

I have been checked twice this year so far. Both times in chamberlain SD. Last year on opener we were checked as well on Otter tail lake.

When I am deer hunting private land I never get checked. However I hunt multiple western states and that is on public land. Periodically I will get checked.
Game wardens are great to talk to for unknown access points or areas that are holding big game.

Never been checked fishing. Only once Pheasant hunting and they gave me a jokingly hard time cause it took 10 min to find my license photo on my phone. Was more annoyed that I was using bismuth in my shells which isnt easily detected on a magnet? But that’s a topic for another forum section. I guess some folks like me and Gimruis just don’t look like poachers like the rest of you

If I go into a Holiday and I’m in a hurry it’s a guarantee the person in front of me is buying a fishing license and the clerk has no idea how to process it.