Ripley-1st Week

[elkhuntingfan]

What did they do last year to anyone who arrived before noon on the day prior to the hunt?

[rbs]

In the rules that were sent to us it says the railroad gates open at 5am the day before the hunt and there is to be NO line before that time. Unless I have read something wrong?

[kevfish1]

We will be there around 8am on wednesday... 1st time in 3 tries it will not be raining.. oops maybe i should not say that yet.

[kevfish1]

elkhuntingfan. Last year it was in the rules that you could arrive at 5am. If you got ther sooner you just could not get in and had to find somewhere to wait

[BuckmasterG]

elkhuntingfan. Last year it was in the rules that you could arrive at 5am. If you got ther sooner you just could not get in and had to find somewhere to wait

This is what I read today also. Wish I was able to make it up as early as you and RBS

[sticknstring]

Good luck to all you guys heading up tomorrow or Thursday for the first hunt. Be sure to post the results and pictures afterwards! Looks to be a nice stretch of dry cool weather.

[CrappieKiller01]

leaving from hutchinson area around 2:30 this morning. If anyone wants to stop by look for a performance engineering green and tan fish house. probally be wathcing hunting videos all day wed.

[jnorm1984]

What did they do last year to anyone who arrived before noon on the day prior to the hunt?

2 years ago (I think, could be 3) On the second wknd they asked that no one arrive before noon, people still lined up early, and the people who came right at noon got a free pass right in front of everyone that was waiting in line..I was waiting in line But it sounds like they stopped doing that...I hope, the guys Im hunting with tomarrow are already in line, hopefully there in the top 50!

[Kyle]

seriously why on earth would you show up that early the day before the hunt? From what it looks like to me there is only a 15% success rate across both weekends, so why are people so intent on showing up so early? You would think if they really had that great of a spot there would be more deer killed...The way I see it, we are all going to get to sit for two full days in our deer stands on the best hunting ground in MN...there will be alot of people whether you get your prized spot or not...I just dont understand why it is such an overexaggerated rat race?

[Kyle]

Oh, and Im going to laugh very hard when My good friend and I go in there at 8am tomorrow and both kill nice deer...

[elkhuntingfan]

The rat race is part of the fun. Spending the day swapping tales with other hunters is a good time. It also helps to be there early if ou have a nice funnel or other spot picked.

[jnorm1984]

The rat race is part of the fun. Spending the day swapping tales with other hunters is a good time. It also helps to be there early if ou have a nice funnel or other spot picked.

Hit the nail on the head!

[BuckmasterG]

Sitting at work reading these posts and counting down the 1hour and 2 minutes until I'm headed north! Should be a good time!

[MUSKY18]

Just drove down Motorpool road to drop off a map for a buddy.....DANG there are a lot of guys up here! Looks like everyone is excited for the hunt, but the wind could die down a bit and make it so the fellas don't have to eat so much dust! Good luck to everyone.

[Jim916]

I am sitting in my stand waiting for mr big to come through. Great weather for hunting. All the leaves are gone. Will post results later. Good luck to everyone up here.

[paceman]

That is awesome Jim916. We want hourly updates.....

[DonBo]

Sounds to me like you should put the dang phone down and grab your bow. Don't want to be hearing any sob stories about missing Mr. Big because you were giving us updates.

[sticknstring]

How about hanging that bow up for a second and giving us an update!

[Coach1310]

I want a play by play..... Okay, I just heard a twig snap behind me..... now I hear crunching leaves.... NOW a wheezing sounds..... here it comes... here it comes......It's A BIG B..... just a squirrel choking on acorn!!!

Looking forward to updates!!

[Jim916]

Sad news. My buddy hit a nice 8 pointer. We tracked him for about 400 yds and lost the blood trail. We went back to get our other hunting buddy. We went back and found the blood again only to lead to a gut pile 200 yds away. He was bummed. No deer seen tonight. Hopefully better luck tomorrow.

[Kyle]

saw one decent buck on the back of a guys truck. Not many people showing up to the registration station. However, I speculate that there was a big one there do to all of the flashes going off. I wasnt able to see it.

I had a fork buck zipp in quick cruisin for does. He came in at 12:30 and stood 30yds from me for a straight hour. it was kinda cool...lol he had no clue what he was doing.

[totally_addicted]

Saw 10 deer total today. 5 of them were bucks. 2 decent eights maybe 100 inches and a couple other young forks and a spike. My buddy shot a 120 pound doe. Not bad for our first day ever at ripley.

[dustin85]

Saw 5 deer today. The first was a big buck-its antlers looked like they were pretty thick/webbed together! I was unable to get a shot at it. I ended up tagging a doe later in the day...the poor girl came limping along dragging her rear end on the ground. She had already been hit twice-once on the frone leg and she had an arrow sticking out of her back. I felt bad for her so I put her down. Unfortunatly I did not have a bonus tag, so that ended my season. I waited for a couple hours and nobody came along looking for her. I'm trying to feel good about doing the ethical thing, yet the whole situation kind of has me bummed out. I did see a couple nice deer in the camping area before I packed up and headed out.

[MUSKY18]

I know there was a HUGE 12 point taken yesterday and another big 8 shot. All I have heard so far.

[sticknstring]

Karma will catch back up with you Dustin - you did the right thing. No way I could let a deer suffer like that. Hopefully that arrow you found matches your draw length!