This Summer's Burns

[2rocky]

If your hunting area had a burn in it this August, would you hunt it this October/November?

What is the usual "reopening" protocol that USFS goes through once a burn is officially contained?

Do you find more local traffic in the burns that Hunting season?

 

[MThuntr]

yes...the burn area information is on InciWeb. Closure terminations are often posted...I'm guess it's very dependent on severity of burn, if remediation is necessary, etc. A big burn that needs reseeding, new culverts, etc will likely stay closed until they can get that work done or once they make sure it's "safe" but a smaller burn in the middle of a forest likely reopens when they pull crews off.

Local traffic will definitely increase.

 

[SAJ-99]

If your hunting area had a burn in it this August, would you hunt it this October/November?

Kind of depends on the intensity and scope of the burn, but generally I wouldn't. If there was good rain in Sept that might has started some grass peaking through the edges might be really good. My observation is that it usually takes a full season cycle for deer and elk to set a pattern in a burn, but I'm sure there are exceptions.

 

[kwyeewyk]

I'd inquire about your specific area with USFS since some areas may be closed long after the fire is declared "out", which is generally when public would be allowed to return if extended closures don't happen. If it's a large fire closures are often related to risk of flooding due to increased runoff and debris flow following fire, which can occur for several years depending on the situation.

The edges of recent burns are usually good, I find deer in areas burned in summer during fall pretty often if there's any cover/forage left, if it's lots of high intensity fire probably not. The unburned areas surrounding the burn sometimes see increased density if animals are displaced from the burned area.

 

[buffybr]

Speaking of this summer's burns...two days ago it was 90 some degrees and the Gallatin Valley was full of smoke from the Bridger Foothills Fire, right not visibility is less than a mile from the snowstorm that we've been having all afternoon.

As for hunting recent burns, I've seen deer and elk passing through burns almost as soon as the smoke clears, but their food source doesn't really come back into the burned area until the next or second year.

In the summer of 1989 (after the fires of '88) I had to go back into the wilderness just north of Yellowstone Park to do some trail work as the fires had burned much of the log corduroys through the wet areas, and I had never seen the grass and other small plants so green and thick.

 

[HuntNV]

If your hunting area had a burn in it this August, would you hunt it this October/November?

What is the usual "reopening" protocol that USFS goes through once a burn is officially contained?

Do you find more local traffic in the burns that Hunting season?

 

[JAG]

I have a question along the lines of this thread. What about prescribed burns? How beneficial are they compared to other burns that launched out of control?

I recall an episode where Randy described the quality of a burn based on the shape of its footprint. Something along the lines of a circular footprint that burned long and hot as opposed to one that is oval in shape that burned fast and not as hot.

Do the two burn shapes indicate anything about the type of growth or how long the area is beneficial for attracting ungulates? How do prescribed burns compare with those started by either natural or nefarious origin?

I would love for someone to provide some additional information on the good tidbits provided so far on this thread.

 

[JAG]

I continued digging and found this short briefing:

Pacific Northwest Research Station | US Forest Service Research and Development

www.fs.usda.gov

Excerpt:

They found that during the spring and summer, elk use of the burned areas far exceeded their use before prescribed fire treatments were applied. Elk selected adjacent unburned areas more in late summer and fall, seasons of frequent drought in this region, likely to take advantage of the better forage in sites with denser canopy cover. This habitat selection lasted for up to 14 years after the prescribed burning. Researchers didn’t know how long elk would be attracted to the burned areas because there was no comparable long-term data available. But, these results demonstrated that treatments applied in only one year can benefit elk for many years.​

 

[diamond hitch]

I recently rode through one of my hunting areas recently. I found that the edges burned lightly and should recover easily. The wetlands didn't burn. However where the dead lodgepoles were stacked up 5-8 ft it burned so hot that roots, stumps and logs burned to and into the ground. Some places all you can see is remnant charcoal and grains of rock. I even saw rocks that had crumbled under the heat. I guessing that the spring snowmelt will result in mass wasteing and severe erosion. One drainage had been so destroyed that if I had a good scope I probably could have seen a confused squirrel at 3 miles. There was nothing to hide under. I'm guessing that it will be moonscape for a number of years. I may not live long enough to see it recover and support anything.

The good news is the the logs are gone. I could ride my horse almost everwhere.