As I come out of the woods on my opening day of turkey hunting in the MilleLacs area I come upon 3 pick up trucks with boats and a a truck in the parking area of a WMA. They start unloading a generator and bins of fish. As I am watching them ..from my truck.. I am getting funny looks. I assume that I was giving them funny looks also because I am unsure why they drove into a WMA 2 miles in to a parking area and start setting up a fish cleaning camp. I wonder over there to see whats up and am greeted by a good looking Pittbull.....I have a couple of them so I am not concerned about the dog but am still warned about the dog. The 9 tribe members were unloading some huge walleyes and gave my dirty looks and kept about thier business. They then fire up this loud ass generator....Mind you this is the area that I am hunting in.. and start cleaning the bin of fish. They started to be a little more responsive to my questions after they noticed my sidearm. All the while I am naive and assume that they are getting out of public eye to avoid confrontation for netting the fish in the first place. Then it dawns on me that they are there to clean the fish and leave the remnants behind..Why else would you drive that far from the lake and 2 miles into the woods.
I spoke to a CO and let him know what was going on in the WMA and was told that it is against the law to do that. A conservation officer was dispatched.
So my question is do I need to worry about any retrobution for turning them in? Am I going to have my vehicle trashed while I am in the woods? Am I going to be threatened by them? This has spoiled my hunting experience and my opinion of the tribe and their Right to exercise the law that allows them to net fish...and break the law by littering the remains. So needless to say I will be cutting my hunting short due to the options that I have in dealing with this and the outcome I forsee. I still must question is it worth going to prison for?????