My Latest DNR Experience……How was yours?

Early ice with the kids.

Parked the shack just off the landing on a Chisago county lake.

Six tip ups out…..

After dark a truck pulls up to the landing……10 seconds later a 145,000,000 candle power flashlight is blasting through the window.

What the hell is wrong with a knock on the door and a “How’s it going?”

Seriously…..

My kids are just turning 4 years old and already dislike the GD DNR

He warned me about parking my truck illegaly in the parking lot….I apologized that with 3″ of snow the lines weren’t visible.

Thirty minutes later the LAPD swung by lol

Things must be really boring is Chisago county tonight.

My experience with the DNR has always been positive even when I got a ticket for fishing two lines through the ice at Cenaiko Lake. Like all law enforcement, they deal with shady people doing illegal, dangerous and stupid stuff all the fricken time. That has to wear on a person. Give officers a break, they have a hard job that puts them face to face with the worst of humanity. Tell your kids about that.

I’m guessing you didn’t like the DNR before this. If your kids don’t like the DNR at 4 years old it’s because they watched the way you reacted.
DT

Where can I get one of those flashlights!

I guess if he had taken the alternative route- leaving a $125 ticket on your windshield when you were close by- you would have been happier? Sounds like he did the job we pay him to do in a pretty fair way.

It wasn’t a terrible experience and we were cordial, but the flashlight blasting point blank through the window bothered me.

It was very obvious that I wasn’t fishing in the shack. He did it just to be a dick.

Other than that, everything was fine. He walked out and checked my tip ups before leaving. He didn’t mess with them at all.

B-man wrote:

It was very obvious that I wasn’t fishing in the shack. He did it just to be a dick.

Maybe obvious to someone IN the shack. From outside in the dark, not likely. He has no idea what you’re doing in there unless he shines a light in there to see better. And how do you know he’s being a dick? It seems to me that if he were being a dick things would not have been “cordial” as you put it.

If you don’t like being checked, stay home.

I’ve never had a real negative experience but there have been a few that have been less than cordial.

I remember one time coming off the ice on superior the CO checked me and was a positive experience but he turned to the guy parked next to me and really started grilling him. I don’t remember what it was about but he was treating him completely differently than myself.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>B-man wrote:</div>
It was very obvious that I wasn’t fishing in the shack. He did it just to be a dick.

Maybe obvious to someone IN the shack. From outside in the dark, not likely. He has no idea what you’re doing in there unless he shines a light in there to see better. And how do you know he’s being a dick? It seems to me that if he were being a dick things would not have been “cordial” as you put it.

If you don’t like being checked, stay home.

I was 3′ from shore and the shack was “up”. It was very obvious that I wasn’t fishing….but he was…

I didn’t have a problem being checked. What I did have a problem with is how he made “first contact.”

What’s wrong with knocking on the door like any other game warden?

“I didn’t have a problem being checked. What I did have a problem with is how he made “first contact.”

What’s wrong with knocking on the door like any other game warden?”….

He was right there….how about asking him as long as you had a problem with this?

I’ve never actually been checked or stopped by an officer in about 20 years of hunting and fishing in MN. I run into surveyors on Mille Lacs regularly. Granted, I mostly hunt private land and I don’t ice fish so maybe that plays a role.

Why would he knock on the door, if you weren’t in the shack? I missed something

I fish a lot. Been checked at least half dozen times in the last 3 years. All have been a-ok.

In 40 years of fishing I have only had one experience where I thought the officer was being anything less than professional. On kabetogema we were checked as my dad was catching a walleye. We had one of those sticker tape measure on the side of the boat. The fish was 17-1/8″ so he released the fish. The officer angrily told us that we needed a measuring board and carried on about three minutes saying if we are keeping fish close to the slot at some point we would keep an illegal fish. If we had an illegal fish, then the rant would have been fine. Maybe he was having a bad day.

like others have said people in law enforcement deal with all kinds of S#%%$ on a daily basis. Cut the guy some slack. For all he knows your fish house was full of yahoos cooking meth. He doesn’t know whats on the other side of that door. Besides, shining a light in your window is not all that offensive. Frankly, ive heard much worse stories of officer behavior than that.

Another thing, you can raise your kids however you want but IMO I don’t think any 4 year old should be hating an agency like the DNR. A kid that age can certainly develop emotions like hate and anger but they aren’t old enough to understand an agency like the DNR in its entirety and what it is that they do. After all, regardless of how they go about their business, they are out there working to preserve the very resource you are enjoying.

I’m not teaching my kids to dislike the DNR, but the one that was awake asked why that man was shining the light in the window.

I explained to him that he was like the police, but for fish.

He said he didn’t like him, I couldn’t help but laugh

Like some of you guys, I’ve been checked a lot of times. Most of the wardens are very nice guys (and gals) that I would happily share a boat or fish house with.

Bman my experience has been poor whither the guys in town. Everytime is attitude. I. Assuming it was Todd or his partner
Everytime even when all is legal and good. In chisago they are pricks for no reason

I was pheasant hunting in Iowa with my 9 year old son walking with me w/o a gun and my two setters. We saw a deer get hit by a car. I called Iowa DNR to get a permit to take it.. Game warden noting that we were pheasent hunting proceeded to tell me that he could give me a ticket for my son not having a license because he was “aiding” me in the hunt. WTF. I put my scared son in the truck and lit into him. He was not walking out to my side and besides there was two setters running at the speed of lightning out front. Did he really think my son was materially helping flush a bird??? How does a dad get a son interested in hunting if they don’t go out in the field? Did IOWA DNR not have diminishing youth hunters like the rest of America? He back pedaled saying he “could” give me a ticket but “lucky me” he wasn’t going to. He should have assessed the situation and used discretion in my opinion and kept it to himself. At the very least,…pulled me aside and politely reminded me of the law. Subsequently, My son asked me to not hunt where there were DNR guys around,..still pissed as you can tell.

Now that i’m riled up,…what would have been wrong with the warden asking my son if he was having a good time,….did we see anything,…was he going to go to hunter ed,…was either of the dogs “his” etc,..etc,… a response like this would have been respected and gotten a 5 star rating to his boss instead of the review he got when I finally got his boss to call me back.

A 9 year old needs a license in Iowa to hunt pheasants?

What’s wrong in bmans case. Dnr should have said hey boys having fun. Catching any big ones good job. No video games. Out side with dad. Great to see. Here is a sticker. Just like the sheriff’s do around here. See a kid on a bike with a helmet you get pulled over and given a dq ice cream cone coupon

Here’s the sticker bearcat…..

“He warned me about parking my truck illegaly in the parking lot….”

The co was doing his job. Bman drew attention to himself and not because he was fishing it seems.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

Here’s the sticker bearcat…..

“He warned me about parking my truck illegaly in the parking lot….”

The co was doing his job. Bman drew attention to himself and not because he was fishing it seems.

You conveniently deleted the part about snow in the parking lot.

There were no visible painted lines to see where to park. I parked where it looked like someone else did before.

Lock me up and throw away the key…..

The DNR doesn’t write parking tickets. He said I should move it “in case” the police came by. A short time later they did…..Aweful strange timing huh??

One thing that struck me as odd, is the CO never asked to see my fish?? (Even though we didn’t keep any) Isn’t that the whole point of their job??

I was on the St. Croix and was stopped and checked by a WI DNR. Checked my walleye and he thought one was short. Slot is anything over 15″ I never keep anything under and I am a true conservationist and I am never an ass to anyone ever. I originally measured my fish at 15.25″ That poor fish had his nose slammed so hard against his board that he measured it at 14.5
He had me read the regulations on how to measure a fish. I measured the fish in front of him and it was 15.25″
He measured it again and it was 14.75″ I got a chuckle out of that. I smiled and said we should wait a few more minutes and the fish will be 16″ He threw my fish back and wrote me a warning.

I’m not gonna comment on this instance because I wasn’t there. Bottom line is if these guys are going to treat you like trash they should expect the same treatment. Can’t argue with doing their job but Tom, you yourself commented about your experience at Walmart. How is that any different? They have a job to do too. After all, they are all our peers right? What ever happened to treat others how you would like to be treated?

Mine have all been good the past few years – been stopped on Pool 2, the St Croix, and a Chisago area lake. On Pool 2 I didn’t have my throwable (it was March and I had just cleaned the boat and left it in the garage by mistake). The CO said he was happy I was wearing a PFD because a lot of guys don’t wear them even with the cold water. Told me to make sure I had it next time and he took off.

The WI guy on the St Croix gave me a couple of spots to try – it was a work day and not too much activity so I think he was bored and wanted someone to talk to. Pulled along side, measured the couple fish I had and said…”I hear guys are doing pretty well on these spots during the day…” We gave each other some crap about our football team and we he was on way.

biggill wrote:

I’m not gonna comment on this instance because I wasn’t there. Bottom line is if these guys are going to treat you like trash they should expect the same treatment. Can’t argue with doing their job but Tom, you yourself commented about your experience at Walmart. How is that any different? They have a job to do too. After all, they are all our peers right? What ever happened to treat others how you would like to be treated?

The internet.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

Here’s the sticker bearcat…..

“He warned me about parking my truck illegaly in the parking lot….”

The co was doing his job. Bman drew attention to himself and not because he was fishing it seems.

A illegal parking in a snow filled parking lot is not a reason to treat another human like a ass hole. You have kids with and even like he said the cops have many complaints.
It’s just the case of another dink with power and using it in a negotive way. The entire visit had the potential and could have been positive

Sounds to me and I could be wrong (happened once before) that DNR person was treating you as guilty, because obviously you have no regard or care to know how to park in what was probably an empty snow covered lot… you must be doing something else illegal (cooking meth) 3 feet from shore in your shack. Just because someone deals with less than perfect people, does not mean you treat everybody as if they are a perp, without knowing the facts. That’s just me though.