Ripley Hunt #1

Wet….cold….slow…. that pretty much sums it up We met at my place at 10:30 wednesday morning. Loaded up and timed to arrive at the gate shortly after noon. We pulled in at 12:05, about 5 vehicles back in line to get in…. not too bad. Once we got in, we were as far back as we have ever been. As some of you may have read, they changed things up a bit this year. Every vehicle entering, paid a $10 parking fee. This is to cover the security, porta pottys, garbage barrels etc. This was a good idea. Also, they changed the entry rules, as obviously (as proven every year) some Hunters can’t read. They have been having a noon entry forever, but people just show up, start clogging the roadways and for safety, they let them in. So anyways, this year, they figured if some people can’t read and want to show up early, for $30 more, you can get in starting at 5 or 6 AM…. anyways, alot of non-readers with alot of money showed up in the wee hours of the morning. I say good for the hunt If people want to not follow rules, charge them !!! Anyways we got the camper set-up and then had a few talkin’ smart about what we were gonna do in the hunt. Also walleyebuster stopped by and we had one , he had quite the day already, I will leave that to him to tell They opened the gates at 5:30 AM, we actually started rolling at 5:55AM, that’s how far back we were Anyways, we got to our spot and there was no one else there… NICE One nice thing, we could set-up in pretty good light. I just got into my stand and harnassed in. I then pulled the bow up and removed the quiver (I always do this, I don’t practice with my quiver on, so that’s how I stand hunt) anyways, I put the bow in the bowholder and proceeded to screw in a little hook to hang my quiver….. just as I started, I hear something…. I look and a HUGE 10 pt, minimum, is angling in right behind my tree…. I immediately set the quiver in the folded up seat, grabbed my bow and drew and let out a BAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH……. he was at 10 yards, walking briskly. I didn’t know if he busted me or was moving through as he got pushed by someone coming down the road. He kept moving…another BAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, still kept moving……another….. OK now he is gone. Well after settling in, it was kind of promising to have a shooter so close already. About 45 minutes later, an even BIGGER buck, came into the woods 80 yards to the north of my set-up. Typically, when I see deer there, they angle down the hill and present a 30-40 yard shot. I readied and waited. He stood for about a minute, then for some reason, he immediately bolted straight west… another big buck gone. I would see 7 more deer today, all does and fawns. Nothing ever came close enough for a shot. The weather was miserable, it snowed, it sleeted, then rain……….ALL DAY !!! It would stop, I suspect, but with the amount of leaves still in the hardwoods, it felt like it never stoppped. In past years, I could see a minimum of 150 yards, for the most part, all around my stand… this year, 60 yards was a stretch. It was like hunting a new spot, as nothing looked familiar…. Day 2 was pretty much the same weather… at least the rain held off until 10 AM. At noon, the rest of the group wanted to call it quits. Nobody seen any, as they were all holed up and not moving. We did leave and went and packed up camp. We were not alone…. it seemed half the camp was already gone when we got out at 1 PM. I do know Thursdays numbers were OK… 129 deer taken and the biggest being 239 lbs. Oh yeah, the 32 pointer, is actually about a 21 pointer from what I seen. It was a nice mainframe 12, with stickers everywhere… it was wicked. I also seen a 8 pointer that a guy took, it was a small perfect 8, and it was in total velvet ??? I couldn’t believe it… the deer did not even have any rubbed off either ??? It was very odd to see in mid October….. I am already dreaming of next year…. that’s when I get my 33 pointer !!!

Sounds like fun to me either way!

Sounds like you had a good hunt at least you saw a couple of shooters that’ll get anyone going, i do have a ? about changing the entry time. If they charge them extra to enter and let them in how can they be not following the rules?

What I am meaning to say is, they changed the entry time from noon to early morning, because years past, they would show up before noon, plugging up the camp entrance and county road 76 and Hwy 371…. so they would let them in… this year, they said anybody who needs to arrive at 6 in the morning, for a hunt 24 hours later, can get in for $30 more. I like it, if you need to arrive a whole day ahead of the hunt (you can’t scout, you can sit in your camper as you cannot enter hunt area until 5:30 the following morning) then at least the camp or DNR or whoever, gets paid to have to handle people at 6 AM, for a noon scheduled arrival. I am just waiting for next year, which it may have happened this year, where people start coming at 2 or 3 AM…. the next step will probably be, just to cancel the hunts, if we can’t follow the rules…..

Thanks for clearing it up, not to familiar with the hunt but do know some people that go but i usually see them well after the hunt and do not get the details about what you’ve just explained. Good luck

Good hunting weather, just not much fun spending the whole w-end in it though.

thanks for the update on your hunt G

so close

mother nature always wins

OH WOW. I didn’t know you had those encounters!! There’s always next year.

Yeah, we had a mess. Brother and dad were supposed to grab the fishouse in the AM. Went to pick it up and didnt have the right electrical set up so I left work and pulled it up at 4. Much more of a cluster than that really..I’ll spare most of the details. Ended up being about 200 yards behind G in line. I think you’re right, most everyone came in between 5 and 10 am. Next year they will be lined up at midnight. They need to bump it up to at lease $100 to get some guys to wait until noon IMO.

We sat on stand most of the first day,,,The second day I went back to the kid in me and was out for a doe harvest. We basically did the spot and stalk thing (in the woods). We’d make sure there wasn’t any other hunters in an area so we wouldnt be messing up things for them,,then we’d start walking, It was a lot of fun. The sound of the raindrops greatly eliminated the deer’s senses , mostly hearing and scent. I walked up on a couple but couldn’t close the deal, it was a lot of fun!

Thanks Big G for sharing your Ripley hunt with us! It sounds like you had a couple of good encounters and were very close on closing the deal!