Forest fires....how does it affect the hunting

[Epfd217]

As a fairly new elk and western hunter in general, I have checked out burn areas in the past but they weren't fresh.

These last two weeks I've been anxiously watching as a forest fire has grown tremendously and burned within about two miles of my planned hunt locations. I know fires are a natural part of the landscape and I have seen the benefits that fire can impart on the landscape.

The spot I'm looking at is fortunately upwind of the fire and has some terrain features that are holding the fire off, but I have to imagine the proximity has some effect. I have a scouting trip planned for this weekend so I hope to get a better idea of the influence the fire is having.

That being said, what has your experience been when hunting near a recent (possibly still active) fire? I know some areas have even been closed due to the fires.

 

[MTlionchaser]

I have watched Elk go in to the burn the day after a fire. I have seen them black as night before.

 

[Caseknife]

One of the vivid memories of my childhood, is seeing a young bull moose, very black bull moose, feeding in a very recent fire in Alberta. The only plant matter that was easily visible from the road was lupine in full bloom. Black ground, black moose, lodgepole skeletons and very purple flowers.

I think they will move right back to an area after the heat of the fire is gone.

 

[windymtnman]

Here in Colorado, I packed into an area of GMU 76, one of the trophy areas designated by CPW. This was an area of the huge 2013 fire that burned most of the Summer that year. Right now, there are many acres of standing dead trees of course. The Aspens are making a fast recovery. So much so, they are already tall and thick enough to provide pretty good cover for Elk. Could you see Elk in the area I was in? Probably if looking hard and perhaps from a vantage point. However where I was, I think the hunting would be tough, due to the steep country, altitude, cover, and so thick in places, it's hard to walk off trail. That's the way it was in this drainage of the Wenimuche Wilderness.

 

[Elkmagnet]

The smoke sucks. That said the animals may be concentrated within a mile of the edges.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

Animals in large landscapes operate at scales and in pat terns such that isolating a seemingly large effect (like fire) is harder than you'd think. I wouldn't be discouraged in the least from carrying on with your plan.

 

[katqanna]

About 2 years ago I was at the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) meeting in Polson, hosted by he CSKT that summer. They had invited Dr. Samuel Fuhlendorf as the guest speaker to present on fire. Fuhlendorf was awesome, gave me a whole different perspective on fire, the wild and ungulates. We had lunch, discussed a bunch of his papers, which he sent me afterward and I made available on my site. One of the big take home points was that ungulates are drawn to recently burned areas. Which made sense, when plants burn, certain nutrients, like minerals potassium, calcium, sodium and magnesium are concentrated in the soil - post fire nutrient dynamics, think "mineral lick". Also the charcoal now in the soil enhances nitrogen uptake for the growing plants. Ungulates are greatly attracted to post-burn areas, especially elk. The papers (just a few below) said that elk preferred those areas, except in the harshest of winter when they were seeking cover.

Ungulate preference for burned patches reveals strength of fire–grazing interaction

Pyric Herbivory: Rewilding Landscapes through the Recoupling of Fire and Grazing

Wildland Fire in Ecosystems, Effects of Fire on Fauna

Hopefully, there will be some rain and this will be speed things along for the growing before hunting.

 

[katqanna]

After Roaring Lion fire cools, elk may see home improvement

Concerning the Roaring Lion fire - When he saw the elk moving away in the thick forest, Hebblewhite thought immediately of the famous “Elk Bath” photo taken by John McColgan as a wildfire rampaged across the East Fork of the Bitterroot River in 2000. Many assumed 16 years ago that a popular hunting area had been ruined. Two years ago, Hebblewhite and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Kelly Proffitt decided to check.

What they found was a remarkable rebound for the elk of the East Fork. Compared to their brethren on the less-burned western side of the Bitterroot Valley, East Fork elk had better body fat, more pregnancies and higher calf survival going into the winter months. The study found they got a wider variety of summer range vegetation to feed on in the burned areas, compared to the summer range in the West Fork....

Elk grazing in those burned-over areas had an 89 percent annual pregnancy rate, compared to 72 percent for elk in unburned summer range. They went into winter with 7 percent to 8 percent body fat, while West-side elk had significantly lower levels.

Roaring Lion may not produce noticeable bumps in elk populations, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 Research Technician Ben Jimenez. But it won’t hurt, either.

From the paper, "We found that altered plant composition following fires was the biggest driver of differences in nutritional resources, suggesting that maintaining a mosaic of fire history and distribution will likely benefit ungulate populations. Study area, lactation status and year affected fall body fat of adult female elk...

Wildfires have landscape-scale effects on ungulate forage and potentially ungulate productivity (Turner et al. 1994a, Romme et al. 2011). Decades of fire suppression resulting in
forest maturation and a more closed canopy may have reduced ungulate nutritional resources and population carrying capacity. The large-scale wildfires within our study area that occurred in 2000, 2007, 2011, and 2013 likely resulted in short-term declines in ungulate nutritional resources. This period was likely followed by a period of increasing forage quantity and quality, largely due to changes in landcover composition. While some previous studies have demonstrated short-term effects of fire increase quality of forage plants through increased nitrogen mineralization (Hobbs and Spowart 1984, Tracy and Mcnaughton 1997, Greene et al. 2012), these positive effects of fire are often very short lived (i.e., < 2-3 years, Hobbs and Spowart 1984) and commonly confounded with fire-induced delays in plant phenological stage that improve nutritional resources (Bork et al. 2002). However, in our study, we found no differences in phenology scores between burned or unburned sites 6-15 years later, nor between burn/unburned and study areas (unpublished data). Instead, it seems that the emerging consensus, consistent with our landscape-scale assessment, is that fire has perhaps the greatest effect on ungulates through changes to overstory vegetation and by shifting plant communities to earlier seral stages (Kie et al. 2003, Turner et al. 1994a). Ungulate selection for emergent vegetation in
recently burned areas is well documented (Hobbs and Spowart 1984, Allred et al. 2011, Greene et al. 2012), and such selection may be due to changes in plant composition of favored forage plants, short-term increases in nutritional resources post-fire, and/or increases in herbaceous biomass."

 

[Epfd217]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. I especially like the technical articles as that is very much my style. I've worked as a structural firefighter and I've done some wildland firefighting. I've certainly seen the benefits, but never on elk. I'm glad to see many of the details still correlate.

As long as the road closures lift, we will be in there. If the road closures don't lift, then I will have to weigh a 5-8 miles pack in vs a 2 mile packin.

 

[Epfd217]

And BTW, our scouting trip was a little uneventful. We could not access our planned hunt area, but we checked some other surrounding basins. Found plenty of water in one spot and plenty of elk and bear sign in another spot. The downside is the spot with lots of elk already has a pretty developed camp at the trailhead including a horse corral. Not sure how its legal, but I guess NFS doesn't mind permanent structures.

I did spot a nice 5x5 and a decent 4x4. Too bad I couldn't find the cows. I know they had to be nearby, but with the warm weather, I think they may have been bedding lower than we were, but what do I know, I'm a rookie to all this. Lots of fun though. A great training run.

 

[el unit]

My experience has been that Wildfires benefit elk habitat. Good luck Epfd217!

 

[SteveE]

My experience has been that Wildfires benefit elk habitat. Good luck Epfd217!

+1. If you are able to negotiate the dead falls burns are my favorite place to hunt!