All about burns......

[IEATELK]

So i thought it would be a good thread for ppl to post up some of their experiences with hunting burns. Since season is right around the corner, and my life is totally consumed with "chasing the majestic" ... Info, stories, pro's, con's, would be good to hear other ppl's experiences.

This last year, we did a backcountry early season rifle hunt in northern WY., unit 70.. 7 horses and 12 miles later we were setting camp up at roughly 9k feet. Right in the heart of it all. We went in blind and rode to our google earth destination the previous day to scope things out. From 6200' up to 7ish. We started hearing bugles from 10am to late in the after noon. I thought we found the honey hole. Back to the trailhead to load and packed back in with our gear the next morning. We would be hunting burn for the next week. My bro in law and my cousin both had general elk tags and i had a general deer tag. It was a blast from camp we would hike and gain a little more elevation. Glassing was perfect. You could dip into each drainage and pick through the burn looking for horns, which i thought was alot better then hoping to see somthing on the edge of heavy dark timber. We ended up all tagging out. I called in a 5x5 to 90 yards for my cousin on the second day. That same day a few hours earlier i shot a decent highcountry mulie at just over 10k ft. On the second to last day, my bro in law headed north of camp and hunted a few ridges that we had pushed the elk into from the previous shooting days. We actually bugled that bull into about 100 yrds of our camp fire the previous night. It was simply amazing!!!! Done deal.... I sure enjoyed hunting the burn. I thought it made the hunt a little more user friendly. And yes, if you werent careful. You looked like you were cleaning a chimney... Haha. Sorry for the long post.

 

[Muskeez]

Congrats on some great success! How many years after the fire were you in this area? Curious as to at what point is there enough cover and feed available for the elk and deer to move back into it? Also, I don't want to hi-jack your thread but I am curious as to how far folks have seen elk move away from a current or very recent fire? The area I have hunted and was planning to hunt in Sept. is currently burning, well a few miles from my spot anyway. IF the BLM and Forest Service let people back in by Sept., I think the elk will still be there where it hasn't burned, but was curious as to others' experiences. I hope you can get back to your area again Tjd.

 

[antlerradar]

It has been my experience that game sightings go up but quality takes a big nose dive. In 2000 one of the best spots and much of the land near by on the Custer burned. In the ninety's I was able to find at least one 180+ buck there every year during the summer. I have only seen two total in the 15 years since the fire. The country is much easyier to hunt with out all the trees and the bucks just don't live long enough to get big any more.

 

[Big Tex]

Ive hunted an area in N ID a number of times that has a 5 to 7 yo burn and both bulls we've harvested were right in the middle of the burn. The elk love it and you can actually see more than 10 yards which is an added bonus.

 

[ida homer]

I've personally not noticed better hunting in areas 3 years after a burn or less. Like I have read about. But one of my deer spots is in a burn slightly older than that and the numbers are great.

 

[IEATELK]

Thanks for chiming in guys.. Ive talked to a few great elk hunters about burns and time frames.. And they replied that they've seen elk back into the same drainage as soon as the same year. Plain and simple they love the lush green vegetation that follows- they put it.... I also have buddies who wish some of there spots would burn.. Lol i just raised my eye brows suspiciously. I hope to hear from some more guys with alot of miles under their boots.

 

[IEATELK]

And off the top of my head, i think our hunt was 6 year after the fires

 

[EasternMTHunter]

I hunted my favorite drainage the same year as a burn earlier in the summer and had a 6x6 walk to with in 10 yards of me standing in full camo with everything burned around me. There were tracks every where.

 

[el unit]

In early September 2004, the USFS did a 1000+ acre prescribed burn east of Crawford, CO. It burned the scrub oak thoroughly and grass was popping up by the end of September. During fourth rifle season in November, my good friend shot this cow elk feeding in the burn. It's hunted great and even better since then!

 

[teamhoyt]

Last year an area where I hunt burned 2 weeks before archery season. The Elk were in it by season opener. A little rain after a fire and the grass starts coming up quick.

 

[Wapiti23]

Very interesting comments on burn areas. Especially ones that are a few years old. I have been trying to virtually scout on Google Earth and the area a friend mentioned burnt about 12 years ago or somewhere close to that and I can see what I'm guessing are cows and calves standing in certain parts of it beings the satellite image was taken in mid July 2014. There were probably 100 total. I've heard that they do real well in the rifle season.

 

[Caseknife]

A couple buddies and I have been hunting burns for mule deer the last 20 years. We initially started in a burn that was about 5 years old, the forbs were a smorgasbord for the animals. This is in an area that was all lodgepole pine that needs fire to release the seeds from the cones. We were able to hunt that burn for about another 8 years, at that point the willow, alder and lodgepole had regenerated to the point that it was impenatrable. You could look across the drainage and see "a lush grassy hillside" but when you got there, it was thick lodgepole regen 10-12 feet high a foot apart and with down logs 3 feet high. Long story short, we now research the burn history and seek out burns that are 3-5 years old and go from there. A lot of people think that fires totally destroy the habitat, and in some areas they do burn very hot and destroy the organic debris in the soil which retards regrowth, but the majority of fires create a mosaic of habitat the deer and elk love. Yes, some places need to burn, but our society won't let fires go unchecked any longer.

 

[IEATELK]

A couple buddies and I have been hunting burns for mule deer the last 20 years. We initially started in a burn that was about 5 years old, the forbs were a smorgasbord for the animals. This is in an area that was all lodgepole pine that needs fire to release the seeds from the cones. We were able to hunt that burn for about another 8 years, at that point the willow, alder and lodgepole had regenerated to the point that it was impenatrable. You could look across the drainage and see "a lush grassy hillside" but when you got there, it was thick lodgepole regen 10-12 feet high a foot apart and with down logs 3 feet high. Long story short, we now research the burn history and seek out burns that are 3-5 years old and go from there. A lot of people think that fires totally destroy the habitat, and in some areas they do burn very hot and destroy the organic debris in the soil which retards regrowth, but the majority of fires create a mosaic of habitat the deer and elk love. Yes, some places need to burn, but our society won't let fires go unchecked any longer.

Good info... There are alot of ppl that wouldnt comprehend the thought of the regrowth afterwards. The hunting was good while it lasted, then mother nature decided to lock you out, good way of thinking about it anyway.

 

[hank4elk]

I have hunted burns my whole life.
Some places it's the only way to see any thing and it usually means new feed.
I'm hunting several for deer this year. It's my go to elk unit, I did not draw.
The big bucks & bull elk hide in what didn't burn or under the one bush left.
This is the area of the largest fire in NM history & the edge of AZ's.
Some areas are still moonscape and some so thick with oak & aspen regrowth you cannot glass easy at all,let alone walk through it . Down side is blowdowns after or traveling thru.
I set up in morning glassing the fringe.
I have always been a "Fringe" hunter. Trees,clearings,canyons,ridges....fringe areas.
Old logged areas and burns are favorites. Grasslands between PJ's reveal elk here.
It can get very thick here in NM. Like CA chapperal.