CAMP RIPLEY-Maintaining the tradition of one of the largest bow hunts in the country, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources along with the Camp Ripley Environmental team recently wrapped up another successful bow hunt Nov. 1.
"The hunts were separated into a couple of two-day hunts," said Camp Ripley Environmental Supervisor Jay Brezinka. "Both events went very well."
The first hunt was held on Oct. 15-16 on Camp Ripley's 53,000 acres of wilderness. Over 1,500 hunters applied in advance for their permits through the Minnesota DNR.
According to DNR officials, 1,216 participated over the two-day hunt, harvesting 89 deer with a 7 percent success rate.
Savage resident Benjamin Fern captured the largest buck, weighing in at 203 pounds. Elk River native Brent Hedberg took a deer almost as big at 200 pounds. Of the adult does weighed, Matt Hegge of Moose Lake claimed the biggest at 126 pounds.
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The second hunt was held on Oct. 31-Nov 1. Two-thousand permits were issued through the Minnesota DNR.
According to DNR officials 1,507 participated over the two day hunt harvesting 115 deer with a 8 percent success rate.
Jeffray Kugler of Erhard bagged the top deer at 239 pounds and Joel Kuebelbeck of McGregor brought in the second weighing in at 212 pounds.
