Elk hunting after a fire

[Hummer]

My elk hunting camp and the surrounding forest where I've hunted the past 30+ years is on fire. The elk woods that I love and know intimately will never be the same. It's pretty distressing. Fortunately, not all the area I hunt is affected, just the closest and most productive for me.

The fire just outside the Flat Tops Wilderness has gone from 70% containment to 43% and is now at 1900 acres. There are 175 personnel working the fire along with aerial resources including Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs), Large Air Tankers, and a Type I helicopter conducting water bucket drops and retardant drops. Sure hope they get it under control soon.

I just spoke with the outfitter I worked for for many years and who I still hire to pack my meat out. He evacuated his horses and mules from pasture there a week and a half ago and was ready to return them until the fire flared up on Friday. From the fire map, the pastures may be burning now. His first bow hunters come in Sept. 8. I have two elk licenses and a bear license for second season, Oct. 20.

Sorry for the drama but I thought some of you may have encountered a similar situation and might offer some insight into what you encountered and how you adapted in the same year after a fire in your hunting grounds. I understand that later years could be very productive. But I'm more concerned with what I'll be facing in October and how the local and migrant elk will use the burn and surrounding area.

I'm guessing that like some forest fires there will be swaths and fingers of unburned forest. I wonder whether these might be worth tromping through the ash and burned logs to hunt?






Check out the Wyoming Hotshots page for some dramatic photos of the fire and descriptions of the fire team activities: Cabin Lake & Indian Valley Fires

 

[Rzrbck918]

Sorry for your luck and for all those affected by the fire. I look forward to learning from the collective reasoning of the forum about how to deal with this situation.

 

[Hummer]

It doesn't look good. The fire has taken off with red flag conditions, expanding from 1900 to 3000 acres in a day. Our dear Gov has finally called in the National Guard resources which brings in more helos, and now 316 personnel are on the fire.


Rio Blanco Sheriff's report.

Damn, all that beautiful country.

While the cause of the fire hasn't been disclosed, it started on an exclusive property where some people pay $30K+ for a weeks lodging. Makes you wonder.

 

[Idhikker]

Just hope the fire leaves patches of timber and isn't all hot enough to torch everything. Assuming there's some trees around, the area should be good and perhaps better than before. My eyes are getting trained more and more to enjoy the look of burned areas for aesthetic reason. Nonresidents think burns are the only place to find elk now thanks to Randy so I'm starting to worry that will make them real crowded.

 

[Tick]

I talked to a biologist in Idaho last year during the course of the Highline fire which burned over 80,000 acres in Idaho. He told me that normally elk go about their normal day safely ahead of the fire. He told me peoples perception is that the elk leave the area completely but as he put it, “they don’t All at once stampede out of the area like they do in a Disney movie”. More than likely they aren't to far according to him.