Ripley Reports 27th-28th

[Bagley]

We got up there Friday at about 2:00pm for our first ever ripley hunt. We ended up about half way back in the main road line. Saturday we got set up about 8:45am. We hunted area 68 west of the Leach range. We sat all day with the exception of a sandwich break at 1:00pm. We didn't see a lot of deer. Out of all the guys in our group we probably saw 15 deer throughout the day. No big deer. Mostly small bucks, does and fawns. None of which came within bow range. Two of the guys in our group saw some wolves.

On sunday we were one of about the last four trucks in the main road line. We got set up about 9:30am in area 50. I think out of our group we saw four deer from the stand and a few walking in ant walking out. We hunted till about 1:30 and spent the rest of the day scouting for future hunts.

All in all it was fun hunting didn't see too many deer though. Did see a lot of people. Saw some nice deer at the camp. Those ripley deer sure do get big. The biggest buck taken was a 255 lb 14 pointer as of saturday night.

Well how did everyone else do?

[hawghunter]

My first year as well, didn’t see any deer in my three outings. 1 turkey and five hunters, I too put on some miles to try and find a honey hole for future hunts.

I found it extremely hard to sit thru the midday because of all the human activity in the woods, I know the idea is that deer will get pushed around and maybe end up at your location but it was ridiculous in the areas I hunted. For some reason we didn’t get let in to camp until 7 instead of 6, that meant unless your spot is real close to camp its impossible to get in under the cover of darkness. The full moon didn’t help matters.

I did notice lots of deer in the restricted areas, they know it.

Don’t forget to change the air filter in your truck! Just a bit dusty.

I think I found a new location for next time, ruled out some others, so thats a start.

[Bagley]

Yeah it would have been nice to be able to get in the stand before light. By the time we got up to the gate both days it was past 7:00am. Then we ended up driving a ways to get to our spots. Then when you get there you scout as you walk in. When you find a stand location that you think might be good you just hope there isn't anyone hunting there already. It will be much better the next time we go. At least we'll know what the spot we have picked out will look like.

You're right when you say it was dusty. You couldn't see 50 yards in front of the truck a times.

[colonel42]

Did they grade the roads?? After the first day of the first hunt the roads were washed out so bad your top speed was maybe 5 mph. Seen a single axel trailer that didn't make it through the first day. Any pictures of the 255lb shot?? Wow what a pig!!! I have heard stories of a 21 pt shot but after reading this post I see it was only 14. Ya right (ONLY)14 points.

[Dhook]

The roads were still rougher than he!!. Our group didn't see too much a couple decent buck but no monsters. We hunted the north end in unit 76, and man do them hills and ravines get sickening to walk, especially when the deer aren't moving. Seemed like you had to walk right on top of the deer to get them to move on the last day of the hunt. Still was fun to get out in the woods though.

[NELS-BELLS]

Got there at 8:30 Friday morning and they brought us down to a staging area by the river. We figured that they would let us through at noon to line up and get our campers set up. But they decided to teach us all a lesson about coming early by not letting us in until 1:00 which was an hour after they opened the gate so we were also back a long ways. I wonder if they did that on the first hunt? This is the first time this has happened to us.

First morning I dedided to hunt way back in about a half mile from my truck and only saw one doe and 2 big black bears. (I've since deleted that waypoint ) The largest bear had red tags in each ear and stopped at about 10' from my stand and looked up at me. What a rush! Our group of six ended up with only one doe and a small 8 pt. Can't complain about the weather. Had fun none the less.

Nels

[bigbucks]

First hunt there for our group. 6 for Saturday, 7 for Sunday. (They weren't supposed to win that HS playoff game on Tuesday, but they did, so they had to play again on Saturday night. At least they won that too.) Two of the guys had to leave early on Saturday afternoon for the game & got back pretty late. I was the only one to connect of our party, but as stated in a previous post was not able to recover the deer. One other guy had a shot, but misjudged the distance & missed.

A couple of the guys saw a decent buck or two. The rest of us saw does, fawns, & small bucks. We didn't have any other hunters in our area of the woods with us, but there must have been some not too far away as pushed deer generally came through in the middle of the day.

All in all I thought it was pretty fun. The mob was kind of annoying, but generally people did a pretty good job of spreading out. It seemed like there were deer trails everywhere, but very few down to the dirt. We didn't basically see any buck sign in our area. We were more Southern & to the West of middle somewhat I would say.

[tritonman]

This was my first year at Ripley and all and all it was about like I expected. Saw lots of deer but saw more people. Never had a shooter buck in range. There was two things I was very unimpressed with. One was all the small bucks that were shot. The guys that have been up there for years say it keeps getting worse and worse. I don't know why people don't just shoot does if they want meat. The second thing was all of the garbage people left laying around. We stopped several times to pick up things that people had thrown out the window or just left along side the road.

[realtower]

Our group of 4 had a great time. we were in the woods before light bolth days and sat all day sat. and sun. I saw only one person the whole time in the stand and lots of deer. average of about 40 a day. I am in there for a monster so I went home emty agian. I to saw little buck sign no scraps no rubs but did see buck chasing does. Also for the fist time all the deer I saw were just walking through and not alarmed. We had fun.

[cliffy]

It was my first year as well. I went with a buddy who was making his 5th trip. We got there at noon on Friday and saw all the other campers that should up early. They (Military Police/DNR Officials) even made the comment that we most be the only ones that can read (regarding the arrival directions). We got to be the very first ones...our camper was right next to the weigh-in station!!! We got into our tree stands before day break on Saturday. I dint see anything but the four people that walked right under my stand.

Didnt see much on Sunday either....spent most of the day driving around and scouting for future Ripley hunts.

Cliffy.

[deadminnowcatcher]

we got there at 11am for the 1st hunt and the line was already a mile long. I was told they let people get in line at 4am. I wonder why they changed things for the 2nd hunt?

[Fishdeer]

well we got there in line just as the rules stated , and we ended up second in line, what a treat for following rules. We saw a total of about 10 to 12 deer a day for the whole party. Brother shot a spike the first day, Seen a young buck chasing 2 does and grunting the whole way. Saw a nice shooter buck the second day but he was on the move, did stop him with a grunt call, but his tounge was hanging out like hed been running all day he didnt care and moved on for cover. That big 255 lb 14 point was parked in line next to me , what a dandy, heard suppose to be in outdoor news. I did take a few picts. It was a good year, we must have had an evening spot because none of us in the party hadnt see any action till noon or later. For me there was alot of wish I , should have, could haves, but it was fun.

[solocam]

Quote:

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we got there at 11am for the 1st hunt and the line was already a mile long. I was told they let people get in line at 4am. I wonder why they changed things for the 2nd hunt?

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We must have been parked in about the same spot. We showed up at 11:00 also. Did you see a Gold 2005 F-150 with a gold Mathews sticker in the back window?