Camp Ripley Live 1st hunt

[Walleyehooker]

I don't plan on getting there real early tomorrow but will try to post a few pictures and how the hunt is going. Good luck and be safe.

[Walleyehooker]

Made it to Ripley a little after noon and yes it's a zoo already.

[Walleyehooker]

Here's the line. It's a little windy and I'm glad I'm not in a tent like some people out here trying to keep there's up.

[maddowg1192000]

we got some dedicated hunters this year or no one from the forum is out there. i wish i was there. good luck all and lets get some updates. i wonder if i could get a press pass and hang out at the weigh station and take pics for on here

[Walleyehooker]

Just got back and not sure how many deer have been taken so far but one of the guys at the weigh station said one went 230. I saw 3 deer today without horns and didn't get any shots. However I was late getting my stand up as some others were there before me and it took a while to figure out where they were and I didn't want to mess up their hunt. Turned out they were in another part of the woods so I got my tree. Tomorrow I will be on the stand a lot earlier and hopefully get some shooting

[Wanderer]

Good luck walleyehooker. Yeah, Ripley is an interesting game. My group didn't get drawn this year so I guess my Ripley experience is in your hands!

[Meat-Run]

Is anybody having some success?

MR

[Walleyehooker]

I hunted till about 2 PM today and never seen a hair. When I came out they had about 10 deer registered at that time and 130 yesterday. They said there were some 9 and 10 pointers weighed over the weekend but no huge racks. Lot of small deer taken. Lots of people had already left and there were a lot of people just driving around.

[Bear55]

Pretty slow where we were hunting, saw some does but no racked bucks. Buddie saw a flash of something that looked big but it was moving fast.

[Boonie5]

Were the bucks scraping in there? I hunted across the Hwy this weekend and didn't find any buck sign, I did see a buck chasing a doe though. Its just been a weird Oct.

[Bear55]

Saw a couple of scrapes there but not a ton of sign.

[Walleyehooker]

I didn't see any scrapes and others I talked to saw very little. The bucks that I saw being weighed all had small necks.

[Jameson]

I missed a doe, the only deer that I saw on stand all weekend. Did some walking around and didn't see but a few ground scrapes and only a couple small trees rubbed. Saw a number of wolf tracks on the roads.

I didn't spend much time at the weigh-in station, but the bucks that I did see seemed to have smaller antlers than past years. Anybody else notice the same? I am thinking it is due to the long Winter.

[totally_addicted]

It sounds like a lot of mixed feelings. Our group of 4 (3 of us Saturday and 4 of us Sunday) saw 9 deer total. We hunted all day both days, except for about an hour yesterday when two of us moved. Saturday I saw 5 from my stand, one nice buck that was chasing a doe. My buddy saw another nice buck in a different spot that he couldn't get a shot at in the brush.

Saturday was an awesome day. I saw ZERO hunters the entire day. My two buddies also saw no other hunters, but they hunted in the thickest of cover in the middle of a swamp. I ended up shooting a 115lb doe at 5:45. She ran about 50 yards and I heard her crash. We had her gutted drug out and were on our way to the gate at 6:45. A great time was had by all.

[Buck12]

BEWARE OF THIEVES: Wife and I were hunting, got her set-up and headed out to set-up. Walking to my area my bow caught some brush and popped the string off the cam. Went back to the truck and headed to Archery Country. I left my footlocker on the approach(not a an access road) about 20 yards from the road, so others would know that someone was up the hill. Left at 10a.m and back by 11:30.(Fast and good service from Archery Country) Lo and behold someone decided they needed my footlocker. Unbelievable! Didn't have much in it, extra socks and long underwear, but still?

Anyways, set-up and saw one spike and a doe. Wife seen 4 does. As mentioned in previous post, buck sign where we were was minimal.

[Bwana]

Did anybody stay in the barracks or a officers house? We rented a officers house just wondering what they all had? TV? internet? Not needed really

[Walleyehooker]

We stayed in the barracks during the youth hunt and it is block walls and cot beds. No TV and I don't think there was internet I just had my I phone. Kind of like a prison cell only bigger but for $10 a night it was OK. I don't think they rent the barracks on the regular hunts just rooms and have never been in one.

[Walleyehooker]

I know people leave things out to mark their hunting spots but someone else might not know this and might have thought it fell out or got left behind and MAYBE turned it in.

[Black Bear]

I have stayed in the billets 3 yes in a row. They are nice. Shared bathroom. You can lock the other bathroom door for privacy if you want. The rooms have a twin bed, 20 in flat screen, sink, DVD and medium sized refrigerator. $25 a night. Maid service each day. PX is open for snacks. batteries, ice etc

I shot a doe Sunday. I saw very little scrape/rub activity but that is expected as the rutting moon is not till Nov 17.

[Bwana]

Well $25 bucks a night sure beats sleeping in a tent on hard ground. My field and stream magazine says that this weekend should be some of the best days of the rut.

[Buck12]

Thought of that and checked at DNR registration. No one turned it in. I guess with 2000 hunters, bound to be a bad apple.

[Walleyehooker]

I called on the rooms but they were already full. Pretty good deal for 25 a night and a shower would be nice.

[Bwana]

We reserved our officers house right when we received our paperwork for the hunt

[Walleyehooker]

I usually drive back and forth for the hunt and called late for the rooms and they were full. Im sure they fill fast. Ended up bringing a wheel house to stay in. That tenting looks way to rough to me. How much is the officers house per person and how many people do they sleep?

[Boonie5]

Anybody here what the big buck was?