If any of you have hunted the Ripley hunt in the past, I'd be real interested in hearing some stories. Is it way too over crowded? Do you see more hunters then deer? What did you see? Any good tactics to share?

I'm going next week (10/17 & 10/18), I'm pretty excited! I'm about due to see some deer. I've been skunked my last 4 or 5 times out.

I live 45 minutes away from Ripley.They have special draws so i don't think they give out more permits than they have room for.I have heard they have some GREAT BUCKS over there!You should have a blast!Good luck to you on your hunt.

Rack,

I've hunted Camp Ripley a bunch of times. I can tell you it was better in the past than it is now. The first time I was in there was in '87 and I saw 50 deer in 2 days and saw 10 shooter bucks. The last time I was there I had some Yahoo follow me into the woods, camp 80 yards away from me and then to top it off, took a 90 yard potshot with a crossbow at a great buck that was coming up the trail toward me. He never even got down to see if he hit it. Later that day, he followed me to a different place, walked in right behind me and set up 100 yards away.

This is not the norm but can happen and I don't mean to discourage you, just prepare you for what could happen. Camp will give up some good bucks every year, I have seen a few that were B&C class. Treestand hunting is the normal method of hunting and can actually be better in places that have some hunter activity to move the deer. Stay in your stand as late in the mornings as possible and get out as early as possible in the afternoon to catch deer moved by hunters coming and going. There will be quite a few hunters and the morning exodus into camp can be a tough one as it is a race to the better areas (there is a speed limit that is enforced by the workers in camp) and the roads are not marked very well if at all in some places.

Check these out for a little more info.
http://www.bowsite.com/BOWSITE/TF/re...GES=4&state=Mn

http://www.bowsite.com/BOWSITE/TF/re...ES=18&state=Mn

Hope this helps, email me if you want any more info, I'll help you if I can.

MN_BOWHUNTER

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>