Cloud 9 great looking buck, i bet your heart was pounding, do u see alot of hunters while on your stand and can you just park on the side of the road. Are they strict where u park. Also why do all the deer stay here, is there large fences. Do you get pumped every year to go?

Anyone else

Yeah you usually see hunters, in some ways its good, people walking around all day really keeps the deer moving. Alittle tip, hunt all day, alot of people get down around 10:30 or 11 and go back to the truck for lunch. Those guys move deer all over the place. In fact if I added up all the deer over the years I'd say I've seen way more between 11 and 3 than morning or late.

Parking....once your in you can park anywhere, as long as its along a road, and theres lots of roads.

Is it fenced? No fences, there may be some on the west side but if there is they're just low fences, a Whitetail could blink and be over one. The eastern border is the Mississippi River. Deer swim it all the time. The 2 biggest bucks I've seen there were swimming into Camp Ripley.

Why don't the deer leave? Well there is no pressure all year, nobody messes with them, nobody can go in there, just an occasional military exercise. Just the 2, two day hunts.

The other reason they don't leave....its HUGE! I'm not exactly sure but I think its 16 to 20 miles north/south and 10 to 12 miles east/west.

Good Luck!

Cloud 9 do u use any scents at all or just wait? Also this is my first year applying do alot of people apply each year or not. Also any other info or sites on camp ripley would be great. Thanks so much i really respect u.

anyone else haver any info would be great thanks.

No rattling or scent use. The deer feel the pressure of 2500 hunters quite fast. They still move but are always attentive. The only thing I think scent may do is stop a deer as he passes. Thats good at Ripley because the deer are moving alot and sometimes thats just the problem....getting them to stop!

Good Luck!

I think (know) cloud9 has more success there than most people. don't get me wrong, i don't know of a better spot to hunt. But i'm pretty sure most hunters don't get that many shooting opportunities. Some people see tons of deer and some don't. I've gone the last 3 years. year I got skunked and only saw i think 7 deer. year 2 i also got skunked and saw about 9 or 10 deer. year 3 (this year) i only saw 1 stinking deer. but it was a decent 185 pound 8 point which i took. oh, most deer are shot between 10am and 2pm at ripley. odd, but all the game wardens there told me that and I shot mine at 1:30. STAY IN YOUR STAND.

part of my bad luck has been weather and part has been the number of people that walk by. i haven't had a time in the stand at Ripley that someone didn't walk by. it really kind of ticks you off and I know of several people that won't go back to ripley because there are just too many hunters.

There's also a lot of goof balls there. i was unlucky enough to camp with some guys that shot at everything that moved. running fawns, you name it. it was incredible.

i talked to a lot of people this year that were planning on taking a doe and couldn't fill it. too many of the deer that come by you are spooked and don't give a shot.

yea, i'd say the campers have a good time. it's a blast.

I would bring scent. I'm confident i got my deer because of the tinks i put out. the buck i shot was walking directly to my tinks. that was the late hunt and there was a lot of chasing going on that weekend. lots....

oh one more thing. i have a magellan gps with the mapsend software. it's got just about every road in ripley on it. i was totally amazed! even some tank trails were on there. no getting lost with that.

Rack luster that sounds like a great buck you shot there. Are you planning on applying again. Do i have a good chance at getting drawn since this is my first year? Also where do you hunt north or west i heard both directions. I just bought a summit broad head stand is it worth bringing? Also anyother info about the camp would be great. Thanks Danny