Ripley

We got in for the first Hunt, wed-thur this year, kinda weird dates…. anybody else going ??

Go G!!!

I never got the invite so I never applied……
DT

consider yourself invited next year !!!

“Believe it or not”. That’s the name of a buck we targeted (bow only) that limped for two years with bad left back leg. We couldn’t believe he could survive WI winters. Good luck!

I am in for the first hunt too!

Well, after sitting all day wednesday and half of thursday, I didn’t see one deer. This is the same tree i have been sitting in for over 23 years, where i typically see 12-20 opening morning and tapes down after that to half a dozen day 2. Most people I talked to seen 0-2 deer all day wednesday. Discussions mostly focused on the wolf packs in Ripley and how they have decimated and pushed the deer out or closer to base. There was 47 deer harvested day 1, down from about 140-150 on a typical year. Hunter numbers were also down, I would say they were at least 600 short of the 2500 tags allowed….. I know 4 guys who are not even bothering to apply next year. i am all about hunting and not harvesting, but not seeing any deer or sign, that’s just sitting in a tree enjoying nature, which I can do for free lots of places.

Our swat team was at ripley training two weeks ago while the disabled veterans hunt was taking place. We saw one decent eight in the back of a truck and heard a few shots. I saw one giant bodied 8 just inside the woods along the river while we were going from one excercise to another. Otherwise we saw does in the fields near the buildings most nights.
DT

i am heading to Ripley tommarow for some pistol training, be up there the next three weeks I guess. hopefully will get to see some wildlife while we are out and about between ranges.

My hunting partner’s son deployed Wednesday of the hunt. We decided to sit this year out. Sounds like we shouldn’t be too upset. Being an out of state hunter, it is difficult to for me to justify the trip but honestly, we have seen dandys every time we are there. Just haven’t been able to fling an arrow! I will apply again next year.

I might start applying next year again. Only problem is since I moved away from home 15 years ago I don’t have contact with the group I applied with. We will see. I could just put more time in up north where I normally hunt.
DT

I’ll be curious to watch the numbers over the next 5 years. SD had a similar issue with elk and mountain lions over the last 10 years. Now that they have finally started leveling the playing field, the elk are starting to slow hold their own numbers wise.

Can a person that is drawn for a wolf tag hunt in Ripley? If the wolf population is that high seems like they would open the gates (and maybe even advertise it…) so that hunters with wolf tags could help thin em’ out a bit…

No hunts that I’m aware of. The deer hunt is so highly regulated, I gotta believe they would have to duplicate the effort to some extent for just a few hunters.