Medicine Bow/Mullen Fire

[Carl 9.3x62]

These were from hwy 130, headed back to Laramie Saturday afternoon.

 

[wytex]

You should have waited, it cleared up late morning.

We had a time constraint and my breathing issues were not pleasant. It was lifting a bit but we have more time to go back.
Did you find a decent pronghorn buck ? We brought home 2 doe only.

 

[rwc101]

Saturday while trying to make good on my 110-6 tag.

 

[rwc101]

Centennial valley in all its glory.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

We had a time constraint and my breathing issues were not pleasant. It was lifting a bit but we have more time to go back.
Did you find a decent pronghorn buck ? We brought home 2 doe only.

Yes, it was unpleasant breathing the smoke.

I didn't find anything worth shooting that day. Almost pulled the trigger on one, but it would've been for the wrong reasons.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Saturday while trying to make good on my 110-6 tag.
View attachment 156608

Good luck with that!

 

[rwc101]

Good luck with that!

Thanks. I need lots of luck with or without a fire.

 

[oswald2581]

I have the same tag plus a general tag. Hoping for the same. They have a lot of area 9 and 110 closed to public access. So here is hoping for rain or snow. Preferably rain.

I received email from Wyoming Game and Fish and they offered refund for my tag since more than 50% of the GMU has been affected by a natural disaster. I filled out the paper work and sent it back.

 

[BuzzH]

Winds honking pretty good, hope everyone stays safe on the line today.

 

[Fj605]

Looks like Steamboat Springs wanted in on the action as another fire started up over there. The smoke around Walden lightened up the last couple days but it is starting to get to me.

 

[bklotthor]

For those a lot more familiar with this area and how hot the fire burned, how will the Mullen fire effect the hunting and animal distributions in the next 1-2 years? Its a giant area, I assume a large fire like this does not burn uniformly so I'm interested to learn what can be expected in the first 1-2 years after a fire like this occurs.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

From what I have heard and seen, it burned kind of patchy. I don't think it will effect animal distribution a whole lot. Maybe some. What to expect in the next couple years? Lots of falling trees. Course, they have been falling up there for years now anyway.

 

[wytex]

Look up the Colorado study on collared animals and the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires. Some actually stayed within the fire perimeter and just adjacent.
Falling trees will be the issue as Carl stated.

 

[Heyjbales]

The biologist is a buddy of mine and we bs'd about what he was seeing last weekend. You can't make too confident of a long-term prediction, but he was seeing critters in the burn now. Especially deer. He also said you can still drive to Owen Lake, which seems really late to be able to do that.

I haven't been out there yet myself, but if I were a betting man I would figure the burn might give Snowy Range rifle hunting a little bump up in harvest rates if you can see/shoot across those big timber draws.

Hey @wytex that was a good recommendation! Cool stuff from that collared critter data.

 

[Gynaroo]

We have a place up near Fox Park. Driving around since they opened the forest it’s really interesting to see fire behavior. It reminds me of when I lived in the Midwest for school and a Tornado came through the town. It would come down a street and blow up a few house and leave the rest completely untouched. The Mullen Fire was no different. Lots of Mosiac patterns through the areas that we have driven in. I would love to get closer to the Savage run and see if it was hotter there and how much Green is left. One drainage is untouched and the next is completely grey/white it burned so hot.

On the animal note. We saw multiple bull elk and a couple small groups of cows on the burn edges. Even saw a bunch of big horn sheep feeding across a burned area near the Platte River. Not much snow up there at this time but hopefully we will get some good snow there this week and next week.

As for trees we drove up from Pelton creek rd to fox park road (via spruce gulch). Lots of trees on the road. Looked like a bunch of side by sides and gone through with a chain saw.

 

[matt_vankempen]

The biologist is a buddy of mine and we bs'd about what he was seeing last weekend. You can't make too confident of a long-term prediction, but he was seeing critters in the burn now. Especially deer. He also said you can still drive to Owen Lake, which seems really late to be able to do that.

I haven't been out there yet myself, but if I were a betting man I would figure the burn might give Snowy Range rifle hunting a little bump up in harvest rates if you can see/shoot across those big timber draws.

Hey @wytex that was a good recommendation! Cool stuff from that collared critter data.

How are the burnt areas looking this year? Talked to one biologist in the area and he said its coming back pretty well.

 

[ljswhitetailer]

I am interested to see/hear how this is coming back as well.

 

[Gynaroo]

How are the burnt areas looking this year? Talked to one biologist in the area and he said its coming back pretty well.

Where the fire started burnt really hot. There is green patches where there are seeps and seems where water is always flowing. The less burnt stuff is doing better but still a few years from awesome. The animals are still there and seemingly don’t care.

We were in the badger creek fire burn scar last week (started 16,17,or18 not sure). There are new trees coming up and it’s starting to show signs of turning the corner. So I’m hopeful that the Mullen fire will do the same.

I still hunt the burn scar and have had no drop in success because of the fire. Actually can make seeing the animals easier. For good or bad.