My Latest DNR Experience……How was yours?

B-man wrote:

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.

Here’s what YOU wrote….You indicate in your own words that you were called for parking illegally. I didn’t omit a thing.

I’m not going to say the co was an ass hole because I wasn’t there to determine such. As far as I can tell from the original post is that you’re all bent out of shape for a co doing his job and was using a bright flashlight in doing so. I will assume that his light is standard equipment. I’d bet that all LEO carry bright flashlights.

The CO is doing his job and has no idea what kind of a case you’ll be to deal with or whether you’re in compliance or smoking dope. Doesn’t matter at all, he’s doing hid job. If you take affront to being checked period, stay home.

Tom, how many times have you been checked by a CO on the ice??

How did each interaction start?

I’ll also add that my truck was the very last thing he brought up as he left.

He asked “Is that your white truck there?”

I replied that it was, and that’s when he warned me the local LEO’s could write me a parking ticket.

I told him thanks and said I would move it.

It’s not just the fact about the flashlight, this guy wasn’t a happy person. Never smiled, never said thanks, never joked.

CO’s need to be people persons. The vast majority are.

This guy was pissy and looking for something to hang me on. Like Bearcat said, I felt guilty until proven innocent.

If I see him again I’m not opening the door.

I have all the respect in the world for soldiers, LEO’s, and wardens. But that guy can suck a d.

I’m also curious why I was the only one checked. There were other fisherman on the ice (albeit 800 yards away), he could have easily walked for eight minutes and checked them all.

Was he just lazy?

Did someone give him a “hot tip?” There was a homeowner who eyeballed me more than once, but I was doing nothing wrong.

Anyways, I did my part to be cordial, and did a couple good deeds before meeting the warden.

One fisherman dropped his ice picks near the landing. Six hours later he came walking back and I met him outside with them. He was happy and I was happy to return them.

Another fisherman came walking back right at the evening flurry. He was brand new to ice fishing and had never seen how a tip up works.

I showed him how to set them and how to land a fish. He asked if he could use one of my open holes to jig in, I said have at it.

He’d never seen a walleye before, and after I caught one he asked if I could take his picture with it

It was nice meeting you Lester, good luck to you in the future on the ice.

Dutchboy wrote:

The internet.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
The internet.

I wish I was checked more often. COs are doing their jobs to keep people safe and protect resources. It’s a shame more aren’t hired.

I’ve been on this planet a while now, and have basically lived on the water (either boat or ice) my entire life. I’m still searching for a single “a-hole” CO. Maybe I’m just really lucky? Or maybe there are people here who simply have a preconceived negative notion towards people checking to be sure they are in compliance with regulations?

All of the following are pleasant interactions I’ve had with COs:

-witnessed them helping people launch boats (countless times)
-offer up fishing and hunting tips
-help pull a sled of gear up a large bank
-indicated a closer public launch for the area we were fishing that we didn’t know about
-took our picture with a musky we had hooked up while perch fishing
-offer a full size Snickers to a kid fishing from the docks in the marina
-give warning to a friend when his registration sticker was 2 days expired

Ok, I’m going to get crap for this but…

My theory is that some people give off a vibe that attracts CO attention. I’m not saying they ARE doing anything, but the vibe they give is similar to what real perps give and that kind of invites scrutiny.

Also is there kind of a “typical ice fisherman” reputation that kind of attracts more scrutiny during each check? Ice anglers arent exactly known for c&r, teetotaling, or their avoidance of fishing with a few extra lines.

Grouse

I have never had a bad experience with a CO and never expect to, they are doing a job that I appreciate. I can not understand the bad attitudes of the people being checked. I am sure dealing with disrespectful lawbreakers is tiring to them but they deal with hundreds of people in a year, the vast majority of them decent. How unfortunate that you teach your children disrespectful behavior toward public servants doing their job. Appalling.

Good greif, I didn’t teach them to be disrespectful to CO’s lol

He said he didn’t like that man on his own….and I laughed a little. That’s it.

They’ll be four years old in a couple weeks, for Halloween they wanted to be (and were) a police man and firefighter.

I think they’ll be okay

Anyways, here’s a couple pics of some fish they caught yesterday. The only thing they like more than catching fish is letting them go. Every fish went back in the water.

Lighten up guys, and I hope your next meeting with a CO is with a friendlier people orientated person (like 99.5% of COs are)

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Your kid holds pike the same way mine does.

David Bollig wrote:

I am sure dealing with disrespectful lawbreakers is tiring to them

If that’s the case, the need to find a different profession.

How unfortunate that you teach your children disrespectful behavior toward public servants doing their job. Appalling.[/quote]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say he isn’t teaching his children disrespectful behaviour.

Awesome pictures!

So let me get this straight. Sounds like the CO showed up and did his job exactly as we expect him to, and you are taking to the internet to curse him and call him names over his proper use of a flashlight? You even said that the contact was pleasant, and yet you’re here behind his back trying to gather the mob of hate for his actions?

I’ve been in law enf for 16 years. There are two things professional officers fear; being ineffective, and not going home safe. Did he shine the beam in your eyes the whole time (not the peripheral, the actual beam)? Highly doubt it, he was looking for your hands and your actions. If the discussion was pleasant, his actions have nothing to do with ‘being a dick’.

He was there to enforce laws. Good to hear he was pleasant, but that’s not required. They are required to be professional. I see a lot of comment replies conflating a ‘pleasant’ contact (ie, one you liked) vs an unpleasant contact (one you didnt) with a ‘professional’ contact. They are not paid by us to praise and converse, so how can we say he should have shown up to BS? He could have stayed in his truck; then you’d be calling him lazy. He could have scratched you a parking ticket (yes, COs do that at accesses and state parks) and you’d curse his discretion. He could have skipped you and instead walked to just the other group, and you’d say he was inefficient.

Your kid gave a kid response. He felt negatively towards a stinulus and voiced his feelings. How about you educate yourself and your kid some more as to how and why officers in any uniform do their job rather than resort to internet insults. I’ve contacted a CO before when I had questions, their info is very easy to find on the web. Why don’t you pick one of the hundred and ask them why a contact went a certain way before name calling and pitchforks? There are quite a few visible in different forms of media, I’m sure one would be happy to explain a few things.

B-man….

The boys look like they’re enjoying the ice and fish in the pictures. This is the way its supposed to be. Different day, different view.

Harvester…..Thanks for the professional viewpoint.

Maybe seeing a shack set up over 3 ft of water was a red flag to the co?

Not sure if other people have a similar experience with the DNR, but here’s mine.

Growing up as a kid, my parents were overall great people, but when it came to fishing they never took the time to know the regulations and make sure to follow them. We were always fearful of the DNR, as we should have been. Multiple times we were out and kept undersized fish, didn’t have enough PFD’s or proper registration, or bought a friend out in the boat who didn’t have a fishing license. Needless to say, everytime we saw the DNR we were pretty terrified.

Since I’ve become an avid fisherman, going out 50+ times / year. I’ve taken the time to read the regulations and follow them anywhere I go. I treat any DNR officer with respect. In my 15 years of being on the water and getting stopped about 6-8 times, I have had nothing but good experiences with them. It’s usually a friendly 5 minute encounter where we talk about where the fish are biting, and they’re on their way.

Believe it or not, but sometimes people have a bad day. Maybe he just received bad news, who knows.
Anyone here ever been a jerk at work?

belletaine wrote:

Believe it or not, but sometimes people have a bad day. Maybe he just received bad news, who knows.
Anyone here ever been a jerk at work?

That’s always a possibility, but since posting this I’ve heard from a couple guys that say the Chisago county CO’s aren’t the friendliest.

As a warden, you don’t need to be my best friend, but the few that assume you’re guilty from word one are doing it wrong.

I hunt and fish a lot. Which leads to me being checked a lot (1-4 times a year).

Over the last 20 years I’d say I’ve had at least 30 encounters. The vast majority have been very pleasant.

By far the worst CO I’ve ever met was on the Rainy River a few years ago. That guy was on another level….

I’m sure some of you here have similar sentiments about that guy. Wish I could remember his last name. We were 110% legal, and his interrogation got to the point of comical lol

He started out with the normal questions, like when did we get there and how many fish we kept.

Then, among the 100 questions he asked in separate interrogations, he wanted to know what we had for dinner the night before, and the night before that.

I told him chicken one night and pizza the next.

My buddy told him beef soup one night and sloppy Joe’s the next.

He brought us together and said he caught us lying. We laughed and said we didn’t get up here until this morning (which we already told him from the start).

What wasn’t funny is how super cop destroyed my boat looking for illegal fish. He emptied every compartment and threw the contents on the floor like a DEA agent searching for cocaine.

His partner on the other hand was a great guy. He even apologized for that guys behavior.

I’ll never forget it.

How about stopping at your local PD and asking for a “hurt feelings” report.

tangler wrote:

I absolutely hate Harvester’s comment about being “pleasant” not being the LEO’s job. It’s not my job either but my professional interactions go a lot better when I’m not being a power-tripping jerk so it’s a pretty easy call for me.

Like b-man’s story from Rainy— we never forget when we’re treated like dirt without reason. We all expect to be treated with respect, it’s the baseline of human decency. Shouldn’t need to be part of anyone’s job description.

I think being respectful and being pleasant are 2 different things. I think that was harvesters point that LEO’s are being slammed for not be pleasant when their requirement is to be respectful. I saw nothing disrespectful about the officers actions in b-mans initial post and I think b-man would concur. Was his 2nd story and example of going over the line? sounds like it yeah but the people commenting about this post are commenting on the 1st story not the 2nd.

Being that COs rely so heavily on word of mouth, you’d think they try and keep a good image in the eye of the public.

It seems to be overlooked by many folks posting on this topic that we’re only hearing from ONE side of this incident.

RT wrote:

It seems to be overlooked by many folks posting on this topic that we’re only hearing from ONE side of this incident.

It also seems that the overwhelming attitude is that CO’s are above all others and if anybody questions that, then shame on em.

RT wrote:

It seems to be overlooked by many folks posting on this topic that we’re only hearing from ONE side of this incident.

I completely agree that you’re only hearing my side of the story. I wish I knew his side.

The whole point of my thread is that our first interaction was far different than most that I’ve had.

Was it illegal? Absolutely not.

I understand that any law enforcement officer needs to worry about their own self preservation first. I would too.

But, as I mentioned before multiple times, a simple knock on the door would have sufficed.

I have family and friends who are LEOs. Two of them are on their local swat teams. If something is sketchy, you don’t go shining a light through the window by yourself…..

I don’t know what he thought he would gain by doing so…..but it most definitely didn’t gain my respect.

Also, please realize that some of your are making a bigger deal out of this than I ever intended.

None of the guys that are “against me” have said it’s happened to them. Would they be okay with a police officer shining a light into their bedroom window???? After all, they’re just doing their job……

But I digress….

I thought it was more comical than most, and clearly stated that it “must be a slow night in Chisago County.”

Maybe he was hoping for some big bust….. unfortunately I didn’t have much to go after.

Have contacted fisheries workers and they have always been very helpful and pleasant. Have had very little experience with COs probably because I tend to not go to popular lakes at popular times. Got a ticket up north for trespassing and the guy was kinda a dork but i got the ticket thrown out so guess it did not matter anyhoo.

B-man wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>belletaine wrote:</div>
Believe it or not, but sometimes people have a bad day. Maybe he just received bad news, who knows.
Anyone here ever been a jerk at work?

That’s always a possibility, but since posting this I’ve heard from a couple guys that say the Chisago county CO’s aren’t the friendliest.

As a warden, you don’t need to be my best friend, but the few that assume you’re guilty from word one are doing it wrong.

I hunt and fish a lot. Which leads to me being checked a lot (1-4 times a year).

Over the last 20 years I’d say I’ve had at least 30 encounters. The vast majority have been very pleasant.

By far the worst CO I’ve ever met was on the Rainy River a few years ago. That guy was on another level….

I’m sure some of you here have similar sentiments about that guy. Wish I could remember his last name. We were 110% legal, and his interrogation got to the point of comical lol

He started out with the normal questions, like when did we get there and how many fish we kept.

Then, among the 100 questions he asked in separate interrogations, he wanted to know what we had for dinner the night before, and the night before that.

I told him chicken one night and pizza the next.

My buddy told him beef soup one night and sloppy Joe’s the next.

He brought us together and said he caught us lying. We laughed and said we didn’t get up here until this morning (which we already told him from the start).

What wasn’t funny is how super cop destroyed my boat looking for illegal fish. He emptied every compartment and threw the contents on the floor like a DEA agent searching for cocaine.

His partner on the other hand was a great guy. He even apologized for that guys behavior.

I’ll never forget it.

I’m sorry, that’s a long reply. I’ve spent more time on this thread then I have being questioned by CO’s

Crap happens.

Have had interactions with co’s from great to horse crap. But more often than not, when there’s nothing seemingly shady going on to begin with, even if it’s just something we view as minor infractions, there’s a lot less tactical, cold responses from them.

Take out the illegal parking and guessing he’d have been more cordial and sensitive to avoid hurting feelings.

A lot of weird stuff happens in parking lots after dark. Most home owners around accesses are hyper vigilant to anything odd going on, no matter how normal the intentions are.

I will say this… I do think COs should be more sensitive when kids are involved. Like others have said, How are the fish biting? Are you having fun with Dad? Etc, etc.

I still remember a CO checking me and my Dad when I was little and we were trout fishing and camping. The guy interogated us pretty good and then still wouldn’t leave us alone afterward (parked his car and watched us for a long time) Kinda spoiled the moment and the memory.

Little kids are very impressionable and more COs should realize that.

I have never checked an ice shack but every car I had pulled over got quite the light show from me as I approached it.