Camp Ripley 2nd Weeknd

[Cheetah]

Saw one small doe while trying to push a spot for my dad. Going home soon.

[Finlander]

When I was there the first weekend, I saw more wolf tracks than deer tracks!

[snapcrackpop]

there were wolves howling and running around all morning by Mud Lake

[MUSKY18]

I talked to the environmental guys after our deployed hunt. Seems they are now getting the deer down to their management goal of 20 deer per square mile. That's what they want to keep it at, so as I understand, this is how they want to keep Ripley from here on out.

[92python]

Saturday AM - Sat until Noon and saw a coyote and a pine martin that climbed up a tree 24 yards away and hung out for 5 hours until I left. Saturday PM - Tried another spot and saw nothing but squirrels. 4 buddies saw a 3 pt, one doe, 3 coyotes, and 4 bears.

Sunday - All day in 2 different trees- Saw one deer and that was while driving to another spot. Buddies did see a few but no shot ops. Scouted some new areas.

I heard 83 deer registered on Sat and Sunday was slower. There doesn't seem to be that many deer in there and the sheer number of hunters all going in at the same time makes for a strange hunt.

Not including this year when I didn't see anything from the stand - most of the deer I see are pressured and trying to get them with a bow makes for tough shots that I don't like taking.

Great camaraderie with our posse and really nice land but I don't know if I will burn another prime weekend on Ripley when I can thing of two or three better options. If I go again I am switching up the game plan.

[Henry2]

Probably didn't help with the addition of another dud zone, more quality deer habitat that can't be hunted and more hunters concentrated in the best areas. Only saw 1 small deer all weekend. I'm used to seeing a lot of deer scat in these woods, this time I didn't see any quantities of scat in any one area. It will probably be some time before I put in for this hunt again.

[Bwana]

I seen A few nice deer on the weekend but none gave me any shots I will agree its nothing like it used to be I used to see all kinds of deer and now its like theres none there anymore I don't know if Ill blow another weekend at ripley again it wasn't worth the time or money this year.

[Cheetah]

The low numbers of deer and sign, and Musky18's comment about 20/mile, definitely will make me think hard about going to Ripley again in the future. I think we have better odds on the public land we hunt in Wisconsin.

[Bwana]

I've always thought about going over to hunt Wisconsin. How muych is a outta state license and how are the deer numbers over there? I would be wanting to use several bonus tags.

[Boonie5]

Saturday I saw 7 deer biggest was a 6 pt and a bobcat. Sunday I saw 1 at sun rise but couldn't tell what it was and 4 bears. One of our worst years in camp, I couldn't believe how many hunters were gone by noon on Sunday however I understand why. I know the wind didn't help on Sunday and then with less hunters and pressure the woods were dead. I will apply year after year but only because of buck quality not deer #'s. It defiantly makes it harder to sit all day when you don't see at least 1 deer every hour or two.

[PropsterII]

Wisc NR archery is $160

[CrappieAttitude]

I saw 4 deer on Saturday evening and 4 Sunday morning. All does and fawns. Yesterday morning I had a Sow and 3 tiny cubs walk 40 yards from me. I took a short video on my iphone, but don't know how to get that on here. Had two guys walk in on me Saturday morning, but other than that, I was uninterrupted. It was my first time there and will definitely go back. Probably the nicest woods I have ever hunted in my life. Spent some time driving around looking at the country. Neat experience overall.

CA

[certified jumbo]

20 deer per square mile equals slightly over 1 deer per 40 acres. If that is true don't plan on seeing a ton of deer. I hope that's not the statewide plan......

[certified jumbo]

Anybody hear how many were harvested on Sunday?

[Eagle217]

I spent last weekend at ripley with family members and enjoyed the time. However, we were completely dissatisfied with the quality of the overall hunt....and many people we talked to said the same. We only saw 2 deer for the weekend and they were in a flat out sprint with tongues dragging. Some guys we talked to didn't see a single deer. Maybe I am alone in this opinion but I have some serious concerns with how our entire deer herd is managed by the dnr in the state! Their motivation really seems to focus on selling licenses and skewing data to their advantage. It shouldn't be a surprise that the ripley herd is starting to bottom out. If you look at their own data (available online), the number of deer harvested since 2004 (when you could use bonus tags) is in many cases double what it was prior to 2004. I believe that was also when they increased the number of permits to 2500/weekend....which is another rant I have for another time. I think most hunters would be satisfied to get in every third year if that meant dropping back to 1500. But that's money lost for the dnr......My young son will be hunting with me and his grandfather in the years to come and I would like for him to have some level of success to get him involved as a lifelong hunter. That's my rant for the day....all better now

[archerystud]

I haven't hunted Ripley in a while but it used to be awesome. I never got a big one out of there but a couple of buddies have.

I think the military drives some of the deer numbers in the camp but I'm not positive on that. I know in talking to them they hit a lot of them with vehicles.

Also, talked to a buddy last night who was hunting up there and he said it was horrible. I'll probably try it again sometime but I think I'll hit my prime spots for the last weekend prior to gun season.

[MUSKY18]

20 deer per square mile equals slightly over 1 deer per 40 acres. If that is true don't plan on seeing a ton of deer. I hope that's not the statewide plan......

Nope that is just the population goals for right here on Ripley. I am not sure if they work with the DNR in the Twin Cities (sure they have contact with them) but I know they work a ton with the environmentalists and having a herd with a population of 20/mile is what they came up with. There are a lot of testing sites on Ripley for trees/plants/etc and when the deer herd is too large, they eat all the experiment plants up and the scientists don't get any data.

[Bear55]

Maybe I am alone in this opinion but I have some serious concerns with how our entire deer herd is managed by the dnr in the state! Their motivation really seems to focus on selling licenses and skewing data to their advantage.

I have some concern myself, however if you look at the deer area maps you will see a lot more lotto and hunters choice areas. I think the DNR is starting to build up the population again but it can take time. I do believe all the extra tag $$$ in the early to mid 2000's were kind of blinding them a bit.

[fishattacker]

During our annual training at Ripley in August I did see a fair amount of deer. I did not however see a lot of does with twins or triplets like we have seen in the past.

One thing that has changed in the past few years is the number of turkey up there. They eat a lot of acorns which could be a reason why we don't see as many twins and triplet fawns.

You need to all go out and buy a cheap military surplus vehicle. I swear you can drive right up to them with a hummer or 5-ton but if you come in a pick up they are off to the races.

[Meat-Run]

I think a better way to address the lack of deer issue is contact Beau Liddell at the DNR and explain that there's plenty of brows (food) for more deer and that a two deer limit is not necessary. I believe they (DNR) really don't have a handle on the herd and with such a perfect controlled environment (archers/Ripley) they could extrapolate the population easily with one weekend hunt. Just from my experience and conversation with several hunters most hunters saw less deer then years past, good? bad? or just what the DNR wants, I don't know but if you want to continue hunting a unique gene pool of monster bucks I say they should take a step back and review the tags allowed and hunters hunting such a vulnerable herd. I think we are one or two serious winters away from a decimated herd...

With out getting stoned I think because this refuge has such unique genetics that they should implement an APR restriction to help increase the quality bucks that run Ripley. Hunters who've been hunting for more then 10 years will tell you it's not like the old days and yes you can say don't look in the past but with this situation you can learn from the past and regain the same quality deer population with sound management.

OK I'm done and off my box.

MR

[ozzie]

Everyone always talks about the "good ol days"...well the "good ol days" are gone and now we have to deal with the repercutions from all the old timers taking advantage of the "good ol days!!" haha I love to tell this to my father in-law when he tells me about all the fish he caught (n kept) from this spot or that spot and you just can't catch anything there anymore!!!

[sticknstring]

20 deer per square mile equals slightly over 1 deer per 40 acres. If that is true don't plan on seeing a ton of deer. I hope that's not the statewide plan......

Sadly, the bulk of the state is currently far less than 20 dspm w/ a majority under 10. Ripley is about as good as it gets in MN.

[Finlander]

After the first weekend hunt and seeing no deer, I think next year, I will go duck hunting in North Dakota instead!

[Gully24]

Camp Ripley Archery Hunt with 127 deer taken over the two day event by 2,295 hunters. that is very low

[snapcrackpop]

Im going to pass next year as well.

Seeing more deer here in SC MN than Ripley.