How bad is an old wildfire to traverse?

[johnnybow]

How bad is it to traverse blow down from a fire that was 13 years ago? I'm doing some e scouting in the pinedale region of western wyoming and it looks like alot of poles are on the ground. Is it impossible when you see that on the aerial photos? Thanks

 

[Hunting Wife]

Maybe not impossible, definitely not fun.

Those standing dead will continue to fall and add to the tangle for quite some time.

 

[INMT]

For planning purposes it takes about twice as long to traverse downfall.

I agree with hunting wife, not impossible but not fun. Don’t necessarily let it keep you from exploring an area just know it’s slow going.

And if you have to pack something out through it, bring trekking poles.

 

[Irishman]

I've been places that were really good for elk hunting before a fire, really good after a fire, but then after all the burnt trees fell over it became so bad that I could walk for a mile without ever touching the ground. The elk didn't use the area anymore anyway, because it got to the point they couldn't get through the area.

 

[kwyeewyk]

You damn sure want an escape plan if it gets windy and there's still standing dead timber.

 

[Bighorner]

I wouldn't be afraid to check it out, but I would avoid packing and animal though it at all costs. I would pack an animal in flip flops and Walmart bags over the ridge rather than break my leg in the pick up sticks.

 

[Gr8bawana]

This is in the scar of the 2011 Wallow fire in AZ last year. It's growing back pretty well and you can see all the trees that have fallen down and when the wind blows with some force you better keep your head on a swivel. We watched several giant dead trees fall while we were out in them.
There is a lot of downed trees you have to go around especially if packing something out. It's not a lot of fun but the elk seem to like the area.

 

[nontyp]

Not impossible, but often not practical either. Ive seen areas actually near pinedale where it would be literally walking on wood the entire time. Not feasible for traveling more than about 100 yds.

 

[Bullshot]

That aerial doesn’t look too bad. Seems to be a lot still standing and room to maneuver. It can be WAY worse in many places. Still won’t know for sure til you see in person.

 

[44hunter45]

I love logging calks when walking in this stuff. Trekking poles too. Wet blowdown can be slick as snot and a fall can really screw you up. As everyone else has said, high energy use and slow going getting through it.

 

[ImBillT]

I’ve been in some that were no big deal at all. More work than the same mileage without blow down, but I still did 23 miles that day. I’ve also seen some that I didn’t even want to try.

Your screenshot doesn’t look too bad. Sometimes satellite photos tell the story, and sometimes they don’t, at least to me. A radiologist might read a satellite photo a lot better than I do.

The one that I traveled really well in was pretty thick and looked bad, so it kept other hunters out, but it really wasn’t bad. Most of the logs were 18-24” off the ground with all the limbs burned off, and they were 10-16” in diameter, so you could step over or onto them without climbing, and when they paralleled your path, you could walk the length of the log easily, and often step directly onto the next log. I’ve seen others where the trunks were smaller diameter than I would want to walk along, and I’ve seen them with limbs mostly intact, so they would be an absolute disaster to try to go through. They’re all different.

The pic below was truly easy travel. Had limbs been intact, it would have been impossible.

 

[Deleted member 16864]

A little easier than beetle kill blowdown, still can suck getting a critter out of it though.

 

[Caseknife]

Really depends on what was there prior to the fire. If it was primarily lodgepole, good luck and then the regen starts. If it was big timber, widely spaced, usually not much problem.

We hunted a unit south of Pinedale on the west side of the Winds a few years ago after a wind storm over Labor Day, holy crap! Swaths of timber 1-300 yards wide all knocked down in the same direction, miserable to get through unless you were going the way the wind blew in the storm.