justnorth posted on October 28, 2007 23:46 :: 1634 Views
Archers took 231 deer during the first two-day bow hunt held Oct. 18-19, at Camp Ripley Military Reservation near Little Falls.
“Weather conditions were very wet, windy and resulted in extremely poor road conditions, but hunters stuck it out and did very well considering what they had to contend with,” said Beau Liddell, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Little Falls area wildlife manager.
“For the forth year in a row, hunters at Camp were allowed to take up to two deer and to use bonus permits to increase harvest on antlerless deer, and this largely explains the strong harvest so far this year with fawns and does comprising about 69 percent of the harvest.”
The harvest represents the fourth-highest two-day take for the first hunt, and is 83 percent above the long-term average harvest of 126 deer for the first hunt.
“If weather cooperates next weekend, the total take for all four days should rank amongst the better harvests in history at Camp Ripley,” Liddell said. “The harvest thus far is only 49 deer below the long-term average of 280 for both hunts combined.”
Camp Ripley deer hunter
There were 2,505 permits issued for the first hunt, with 2,142 hunters participating, for a participation rate of 85 percent. Hunter success was about 11 percent (three percent higher than the long-term average of 8 percent). Seven hunters took their bag limit of two deer.
“With 10 consecutive mild winters, Camp Ripley’s deer herd is in good condition. Most hunters that provided comments indicated they saw numerous deer,” Liddell said. “The good harvest experienced thus far is due to strong effort by hunters, high deer densities (estimated at 27 per square mile), and a high number of hunters in Camp.
Of adult bucks weighed, seven tipped the scales near 200 pounds. The largest buck weighed 208 pounds, taken by Paul Hagen of St. Michael. Chad Neuman of Young America took a buck nearly as large, weighing in at 203 pounds. Richard Reginek of Hutchinson harvested the largest doe of the first hunt, weighing in at 121 pounds.
The second two-day hunt is Oct. 26-27.
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