My son's Ripley Youth Hunt

[NELS-BELLS]

On Friday morning we went to the first orientation, along with 90% of the rest of the hunters. The room was packed! As soon as the meeting was over it was a mad scramble to get up range and do some scouting. I've hunted Ripley many times, but the thought of being able to scout and put your stands up ahead of time was almost better than the first time I pulled into the parking lot at Cabelas.

The first 3 spots we found had plenty of deer sign but we also found gut piles, or what was left of them. We were hoping to find a good spot that hadn't been hunted in the days prior. After checking out about 5 spots, I let my son decide which spot he wanted to hunt.

After a sleepless night, (for me anyways) it was finally time to hit the woods and hunt. The first spot we hunted was a narrow stretch of woods with a clearing on the east and a tall grassy (normally wet and swampy) area to the west. Unfortunately the weatherman was off on his prediction of the wind direction.

We saw one deer from that stand and unfortunately it saw and smelled us at the same time. We weren't even sure if it was a buck or doe, but either way it was long gone.

Here is a veiw from our first stand location.

With the wind not blowing right for that spot we decided to move. We ended up finding a spot up in the ridges to the north that had a fresh scrape and some rubs. Of course he wanted to hunt that spot next.

We set up for the evening hunt. Had a little lunch and climbed into our stands.

This is what our stand set up looked like from the ground. The only down side to this set up was we stood out like a sore thumb. Much better than trying to hang onto a tree with one hand and wrestling with the stand in the other.

This is a view from this stand. It overlooked a small, almost dried up pond with some green grass around it. Did I mention the fresh scrape and rubs.

At about 6:42 a nice doe and a fawn came by eating acorns. At first the doe was a little nervous because she crossed the path we walked in on. After a while she settled down and began eating again. She was about 27 yards away when she must have gotten wind of us. She stomped her feet and started to trot away. My son said to try and stop her, so I grunted. It worked and she stopped and looked up at us. He drew back at the same time.

Next thing I see the lighted nock sailing thru the trees and WACK! The arrow hits her behind the rib cage angling forward.. It goes in about as far as the fletching. She takes off running with the lighted nock sticking out and goes about 70 yards and then stops. Then she disappears behind some trees.

We waited only about a half hour before going after her since they wanted us to the check point by a certain time.

Lucky for us, as we crested a small ridge, we saw the lighted nock sticking up.

We exchanged a hi-5 and a hug and then it was time for his next lesson on gutting a deer.

I think it was about 9:00 before we got all the way back down to base and registered her. After that we drove 40 minutes home and hung her in the garage. As exhausted as we were, he still wanted to get up at 4:30 the next morning and head back up there to hunt.

Here is a photo of my son with his doe taken in our back yard the next afternoon, when we got back home from the hunt.

Sorry if I got long winded with my story but I was and still am, very proud of him. It would have been a great time even if we hadn't gotten a deer but that was the icing on the cake.

It was nice to meet some of the fellow forum members. Nubbins - I think we sat across from you and your daughter at the orientation. I should have said something.

In all we saw 9 deer on Friday (one was a small buck) and only 3 from the stand. We also saw 3 more does while driving back to base on Sunday afternoon.

I can't wait until the 18th when we get to do it again. Only this time I get to hunt also.

Nels

[dukhnt]

Awesome story. Congrats!

[eyesonly]

Great story, Thanks for sharing and congrats to both of you. It was our first time there and we had a great time as well- Im hoping he gets drawn again.

[mnguy152]

nice pic and doe

[nubbin]

Nells, I came out and shook your hand and congradulated you when you had the deer on the carrier back at the base. Congrats on the hunt. Watching your child bag their game is way better than bagging one yourself. The doe looked very old. Hope to see you there next year.

[mrklean]

Congrats to your son

[matchset]

great story! nothing better than a day spent in the woods

[fishing_greg]

Great story.

[rkhinrichs]

great story!!

[Walleyehooker]

2012 SPECIAL YOUTH DEER HUNTS

These Regulations apply to all youth deer hunts:

■ Applications will be accepted beginning July 1, 2012.

■ Each person must apply at an ELS license agent or the DNR License Center in St. Paul.

■ Group applications are not allowed.

■ A lottery will be held if applications exceed the number of permits.

■ Applicants may only apply for one youth archery hunt and one youth firearms hunt.

■ Participating in a special youth hunt does not preclude one from hunting the regular season.

■ Unsuccessful applicants receive preference for future youth hunt drawings of the same type.

■ An adult parent/guardian mentor, who may not hunt, must accompany youth participants while hunting at all times and will abide by all hunting rules.

■ All youth participants and an adult parent/guardian mentor must attend a mandatory pre-hunt orientation session. If you can’t make it to the orientations, don’t apply and remember if you apply please take advantage of the opportunity….because if you don’t, you are taking away an experience from somebody else!!!!!!

■ Party hunting is not allowed, participants must shoot their own deer.

■ Blaze orange is required during youth firearms hunts.

■ Tree stands and pop-up blind in special State Parks Hunts Only:

 Are permitted up to 7 days prior to the hunt, placed during normal park hours and must have owner/hunter clearly identified on them with their MN DNR license number. (This is to facilitate hunt preparation by youth who are normally in school Monday thru Friday and to capitalize on some of the Youth Hunt Clinics conducted one week prior to the hunt).

 Only clamp-on or strap-on portable stands may be used that do not damage trees or other vegetation are allow. NO nails, screw in steps or other devices that damage the bark of trees are allowed.

 Hunters may not place multiple stands.

 Other hunters or the general public may not occupy stands legally placed by a hunter.

 Stands must be removed no more than one day after the hunt.

[PropsterII]

Nels, you are right about hanging onto the tree with one arm and struggling with a stand in the other. Couple things you might consider that I have been doing for years that sure made it much easier for me to hang stands, especially as I got older and less flexible and more concerned about my well being First, use a climbing belt or climbing line to hook around the tree once you are up there so both hands are free. Second, climb up with a one-way ratchet/roller device (some company used to make them and marketed it to hunters for this purpose, but I've seen them otherwise too - not sure what the technical name for them is) with 20 ft of rope, the tag end of which is tied to your stand on the ground. Get up there to height and hang the ratchet device (mine has a hole thru it) on a branch or step (in the case of Ripley use a rope or strap-on step), flip the lever on the ratchet and you can pull the short end to raise the stand, let go and it stays there. You can raise a stand pretty easily one-handed that way. Then you have two hands free to position and hang the stand.

[NELS-BELLS]

I honestly did not know that.

Is that just for the youth hunts or all hunts at Ripley?

Nels

[Walleyehooker]

All Ripley hunts. It should be stated in the packet of rules they send you.

[MUSKY18]

Congrats to you and your son!! Glad he was able to harvest an animal. Hope you and your son come back and do it again next year. Sorry I missed your call Friday morning. Turns out I didn't have to work on Friday because Monday was a holiday. My apologies.

[paceman]

Cool story and pictures! Congratulations!

[Finlander]

Awesome hunt! Great pic's! Good story!

[slimngrizzly]

Great to see a kid LOVIN' IT!

[sticknstring]

Congrats to you and your son - sounds like you did a great job training him in! There's some old nannies in there for sure. I shot one a few years back they figured was 6+.

[fishing_greg]

Funny how my comment got changed without me doing it,

[Rick G]

Great story Nels, you should be proud of that young man you raised

[rbs]

Awesome job with the doe! It was a great hunt!

I might have missed it, but what were the rules posted for?

[ANYFISH2]

Walleyehooker, I too would like to know what the rules or rule you were referencing. Could you tell us?

Nells, congrates to your son and yourself, thanks for sharing.

[fishing_greg]

Nels stoRy showed him using tree pegs and I just questioned if that was legal not a big deal, so he went back changed his story and edited my comment

[ANYFISH2]

Screw in steps are just fine(legal) to use in Camp. The rules posted were refering to youth hunts in "PARK" hunts. Checked the rules booklet(general hunts) and there was no mention of any restriction on use of screw-in-steps. Hunted camp since '98 and hadn't heard this before.

[rbs]

pretty sure Nels didn't edit your post...I am pretty sure only admin can do that. Screw in steps are fine in Ripley.