DNR Checking Fish Houses for Underage Drinking

I remember the old T-shirt cartoon — on it was a sign that read “Fisherman’s Hell:  Choose One.”  Next to the sign was a double arrow pointing to worms OR beer.  Choose one only…Beware to those who are consuming, alcohol, underage and too noisy — the DNR is looking for you.  Check out the StarTribune link. Specifically, they are looking for underage drinking in fish houses.

It is very easy to avoid police intervention into a fish house.  Thanks to the Minnesota Supreme Court Ruling in State v. Larsen you can read here, the Court put a stop to DNR warrantless entry into a fish house just to perform a routine license check.  The Court correctly determined that a fish house was no different than someone’s home (have you seen some of these palaces?) — and entry into the fish house required a warrant.  So the solution is pretty clear — don’t open the door unless the police/DNR have a warrant.  If multiple lines is the issue, it may take a while for the DNR to “unbank” all of your snow to check.  Underage drinking?  Be careful whom you accidentally elect as the spokesperson of the group (and try to have the owner present — the owner is the person who can deny a lot of things to the police).  And did I mention don’t open the door?  Don’t open the door!  And keep the window shade shut, the police/DNR can look into any open window.  From the time the police have seen behavior (you may realize that they are on to you) giving them probable cause to ask a judge to sign a warrant, it might be a couple of hours before they can actually come back and execute it.  Make sure you take that time to calm things down, or remove the offending elements from the fish house.

Why all the fuss?  Have you ever been to the Eelpout Festival in Walker?  Small cities can pop up in the middle of the lake, and there’s very little fishing going on.  Just Google it, go to Youtube, etc….