becks16

I live 20 miles from a 54,000 acre military preserve, they open it 2 weekends a year for bowhunters, just wondering if anyone here hunnted it this year, i saw this question asked to cloud9 about his nice buck. please share.

RackLuster

I hunted the first weekend (thursday & friday). The weather was awfull, snow on thursday then snow overnight and rain until early afternoon on friday. I hunted with 2 friends and we saw only 9 deer. Only one buck, a spike. I saw 5 does. Saw some nice deer getting registered, none in the woods though.

From what I hear a 19 point was taken the second weekend. Plus quite a few bucks over 200 pounds.

Overall, the hunting was tough. I don't think they were moving much on their own. The deer I saw were pretty much all pushed.

I'll be back though....

becks16

Rack

I had a decent hunt, saw 4 bucks from the stand and they were pretty nice ones, i could have shot a 16inch 7 pointer but passed, I am strickly hunting for one of the big boys in there, I did see 2 dead ones on trailers including that 16 pointer. a couple others that I know had 24 inch spreads. I have hunted there 6 times and it is fun.

CLOUD 9, MN

Yeah, I got it at Ripley. I hunted saturday, before I shot the big one at about 11 am I had seen 9 deer(2 bucks). I went back out and saw 8 more(one buck). I didn't really hunt sunday.

The rest of my party saw quite a few deer on saturday. Perry saw 9, dick saw 14, Randy saw 31. The people camping nest to us saw alot. One saw 39 and the other guy saw 36.

The first day we always see tons of deer. The second day we see almost nothing. We're trying to find a swamp or brushy area to hunt the second day in the future. Any ideas?

PRACTICE....PRACTICE....PRACTICE......SUCCESS!

Lilhunter

I have always wondered if you could hunt the bordering land around ripley. I have never put in for it but a buddy of mine gets drawn every other or every third year. Well till he nocked his wife up LOL!

RackLuster

you shoot a 235 pound buck and you're asking us for ideas????hehe!!

I had a feeling you got that brute up there. I'm sure you were the talk of the place.

Where were people hunting where they were seeing 39 and 36 deer a day?

We had sign everywhere but just nothing for deer. I think part of the problem (besides rain and snow) was we were in an area with little pressure, except for the 3 or 4 other hunters that were right on top of us. Nobody in the surrounding area to get the deer moving.

My group of 3 saw 8 does and a spike. We were in the swamps, it sucked. Along with the 8 deer we also saw a dog. My buddy didn't see any deer but he saw the dog (i don't think he's going back. hehe!). It turned into a big joke. I asked the game warden about it and he said that dogs kill more deer then wolves and coyotes combined in MN, so shoot it next time!

Apparently there is some public land by ripley but I hear it is hunted REALLY REALLY hard, especially since it's a management area this year.

CLOUD 9, MN

Rackluster.......we typically hunt ridgetops and saddles that join major ridges together. There are also a fair amount of lakes, ponds and small swamps in the area. Its pretty hilly, you don't want to shoot anything unless its a trophy.......its just a bear to drag anything out!!!

You said there weren't many hunters in your area. Having some is a good thing, keeps things moving. If there's one tip I can give you its this. Hunt the whole day in your stand. Just don't get out. Our group sees 75% of our deer between 10am and 4 pm. Its the same every year we hunt and we don't always hunt the same areas each time.

I just wish we could figure the second day!

PRACTICE....PRACTICE....PRACTICE......SUCCESS!