How much are Minnesota’s natural resources worth to you?
To me they are priceless, but when it comes to those who steal or abuse those resources, the laws in Minnesota must not think so.
I have followed many different prosecutions regarding gross violations of Minnesota’s game and fish laws, and in every case I’ve researched, the penalties for violators are not even high enough to be a measurable deterrent.
Recently there was a big bust at Upper Red Lake where two or three anglers were 67 fish over their limit. There is no way to make a mistake like this one by accident. The sum total of the restitution and fines was only about $2,000 per person.
When someone catches and kills 10 times the normal legal limit, should the fine only be $30 per fish? If they get their feet held to the fire, they might lose their fishing licenses for a short time as well.
Another much bigger investigation about three to four years ago, which was also in the Upper Red Lake area, rounded up about 30 individuals and businesses that were taking illegally caught fish and selling them to different restaurants and such. This was prosecuted under the federal Lacy Act which prohibits the sale of wild game and fish. There were both tribal and non-tribal individuals involved, and in the end no serious prosecution or charges were successful even though the violations were well-documented. The tangle of Minnesota law and tribal rights doomed that to the history books.
Yet another big bust for a guy that had illegally harvested many trophy deer over a three- to five-year period was unsuccessful because the DNR got a warrant for a tracking device on the lawbreaker’s car and the judge deemed they should have used a full-blown search warrant. That guy walked scot-free as well. This really makes me angry.
You have to use the baseline foundation that a DNR conservation officer can only write citations for violations on the books, and county attorneys make the ultimate decision as to what the violator should be charged with. I hold no ill will toward the DNR Enforcement Division, but there is certainly a breakdown somewhere in this system.
I visited with a politician who was campaigning door-to-door a long while back, and I asked him about increasing the penalties for gross over-limits and such. He responded that he was not willing to make every constituent in his district into a felon for breaking game and fish violations. I then replied, “What should they be then?”
If it was the world according to Scott Rall, the cost for violating game and fish rules would remain about the same for the small stuff but would skyrocket on the big items.
Have you ever tried to count the fish in the live well? When there are mixed bag catches, even a conscientious angler can make a mistake on one or two fish. It should not happen, but it does. These people should not suffer to a point where they give up on hunting and fishing altogether.
Poaching a deer out of season, keeping 50 fish over your limit, destroying public land or property, and a long list of other gross violations should result in that person never hunting or fishing in the state again. They can take up knitting or golf.
Some people think that shooting before or after the legal shooting time or stepping over a fence onto private property for that one last pheasant are no big deal. In fact, each of these acts and hundreds of other apparently minor infractions to some folks is still POACHING!
Taking game and fish in an illegal manner is poaching. Nobody can tell me that it is not. Any person that breaks game and fish laws is not to be included in the category of “sportsman” or “sportswoman.”
I told a conservation officer one time a long time ago, “Thank you for checking me today.” He asked why I would thank him. I responded that I know if he is checking me, he is also checking everyone else.
We all need to place high value on our natural resources. They need to be protected, and we need to be the ones to do that protecting. One conservation officer covering 1-2 counties cannot do it alone.
The natural world provides a quality of life that nothing else can compare to. I for one want it to be around for my grandchildren and their kids as well. High quality natural resources, like freedom, if not viciously protected, will sooner or later cease to exist.
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com. or on Twitter @habitat champion.