Comments on: Michigan DNR, rescue workers recover elk carcasses from private lake in Otsego County https://thinkingafield.org/2021/12/michigan-dnr-rescue-workers-recover-elk-carcasses-from-private-lake-in-otsego-county.html Outdoor commentary and legislative issues. Fri, 17 Dec 2021 12:12:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: Glen Wunderlich https://thinkingafield.org/2021/12/michigan-dnr-rescue-workers-recover-elk-carcasses-from-private-lake-in-otsego-county.html#comment-2407 Fri, 17 Dec 2021 12:12:07 +0000 https://thinkingafield.org/?p=39568#comment-2407 In reply to Edwin Schwank.

We were not on the scene; others were and they made the call for safety’s sake: “In some cases, well-intentioned people have endangered their own lives in attempts to try to save these animals, sometimes with fatal results.
We remind people that no ice is safe ice,” Gorno said. “Putting yourself in danger of drowning is not an acceptable risk.”

GW: I cannot imagine the degree of criticism for knowingly endangering good-intentioned amateur rescuers – especially, if someone drowned. Nobody wanted the elk to perish.

]]> By: Edwin Schwank https://thinkingafield.org/2021/12/michigan-dnr-rescue-workers-recover-elk-carcasses-from-private-lake-in-otsego-county.html#comment-2406 Fri, 17 Dec 2021 00:46:26 +0000 https://thinkingafield.org/?p=39568#comment-2406 Sorry, but once again dnr officers didn’t do their best. There is absolutely NO danger to anyone when an elk is in deep water…they can’t defend themselves and can only swim around the edges. If the reports of the location of 100 yards off shore….calling in help cutting ice from shore to animals would have done the trick here….ordering away the help “for safety sake” typical Michigan DNR response. Let them die, or kill them. You can bet that if the word got out about the elk 100 volunteers with chainsaws could have got them out. While it is only a handful of elk, lots of hunters in particular would go the distance to save these animals. Unfortunately, Michigan DNR doesn’t think this way and whether shooting a deer or bear or anything else, it is such a waste. Not a tree hugger, or animal activist…just an outdoor sportsman who has seen this over and over again by the DNR. Wisconsin and Minnesota would have reacted differently and have over the years. This is my observation and my opinion from years of reading about these events.

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