those pesky conservation officers!

**nickgiacalone** · 06-08-2009, 12:07 AM

I was camping in the tip of Michigan's "Thumb" this weekend with some friends and we were off driving on some county owned unmaintained "drive at your own risk" roads. but wheelin in the sand got a bit boring back there. so we saw a few trails leading to a small inland lake, well we were going to head to the lake and have a few pops and maybe throw a fishin line in the water. well there was a trail that was "closed" by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) but all that was blocking it was a big boulder. well of course nothing stands in the way of a chevy so we hooked a snatch strap around the boulder and thru the tow hooks of my truck and moved the boulder. well, we then made it about 30 yards from the outlet of the trail near the lake but the DNR had that side of the road blocked with some HUGE stumps, again, no stoppin the chevy, we just dragged those out of the way too. we had the stump moved about half of the way that we needed to move it and who comes flyin in from the other side of the stumps that damn DNR law enforcement officer.

Mr. Officer wanted to know what i was doing and i told him i was moving a stump. He told me that wasnt allowed and the stump was there for a reason and i explained to him that i was from the "city" and wanted to enjoy michigan's outdoors. He didnt bite, first he took all of our licenses, called them all in, when they all came back clear he kept mine and told me to turn around go all the way back to the county sand road and meet him at the end by the lake, so i had to do an 8-point turn on this little trail (so i didnt run over any sapplings) then drive all the way back to him, where he issued me a ticket for "Operating a vehicle in a closed area".

I am so excited to call and see how much this fine is going to set me back. but oh well it was still fun. anyone else have this happen, id especially like to hear from some other michiganders!

**Steve** · 06-08-2009, 12:40 AM

You should have snapped some photos of the stuff that you moved ... you know, for the sake of posterity.

**nickgiacalone** · 06-08-2009, 06:29 AM

Originally Posted by Steve

You should have snapped some photos of the stuff that you moved ... you know, for the sake of posterity.

i had my camera with me, but, what usually happens when your doing something out of town? it always dies, cell phones, cameras, anything with batteries lol

**Z71_guy** · 06-08-2009, 09:32 AM

sounds like a similar incident i had except i got a warning

**Mean_Green_95** · 06-08-2009, 09:54 AM

The closest thing to your DNR that we have in La is the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. But I've never had anything like that happen to me. I used to go ridin on the sandbars and in thr local hunting clubs all the time w/o seeing the DWF/

**nickgiacalone** · 06-08-2009, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by Mean_Green_95

The closest thing to your DNR that we have in La is the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. But I've never had anything like that happen to me. I used to go ridin on the sandbars and in thr local hunting clubs all the time w/o seeing the DWF/

i believe the hunting clubs would most likely be private land. you can do whatever you please with private land my problem was i was on state owned forest land

**Mean_Green_95** · 06-08-2009, 07:53 PM

well the DWL can go anywhere they want, even in hunting clubs!

**nickgiacalone** · 06-09-2009, 06:29 AM

Originally Posted by Mean_Green_95

well the DWL can go anywhere they want, even in hunting clubs!

Our DNR can also do that, they just cannot ticket you for off roading on private land, all they can do on private land is check you for hunting/fishing limits.

**Mean_Green_95** · 06-09-2009, 03:34 PM

They can check for our membership cards, and if you can't prove that your a member, they can call the land/lease owner to see if they want to press charges for trespassing.