I totally agree with MN Bowhunter! You will see other hunters- no way around it. You try and make it work to your advantage. There are roads everywhere, so it's not as if you can hike in 1/2 mile to a secluded spot, because you'll meet someone coming in from the other direction.

But it is worth it. I think the hunting was better back in the early 90s, but I took a nice 8 pointer with a 17" spread in 2000. Unfortunately, some idiot had hit the deer while road hunting with his 12 year old son. They spotted the deer while driving down the road, got out and shot it from the road. Great lessons for a new 12 year old bowhunter! What made it worse, the guy hits this buck in the family jewels. No lie. He later told me he was aiming for the femoral artery in the butt, because it was the only shot he had. The buck came walking past me and offered a 12 yard broadside shot. I finished the job and quickly noticed blood running down the deer's back leg.

Sure enough, 10 minutes later the father-son come tromping through in blue-yellow windbreakers. They never had the chance to get dressed. He thanked me for finishing off his deer, but I dismissed his comment and followed them to the buck. After seeing his shot and hearing his story, a SLIGHT altercation occured. Bottom line- the deer now resides on my rec room wall.

But these type of stories happen at Ripley. You've got 2000 hunters in a 70 square mile area. And there are some real winners hunting next to you. But the potential for big bucks is there. You just have to be adaptive and patient! We'll be there for the second hunt, so save a couple big ones for us!!! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>