Will archery season in MT be close on 9/1?

[Yetty]

The last time the archery season was closed due to fire in Montana was in 2000. We are just over 2 weeks from archery season opening up for deer and elk in 07. There are fires burning all over the state. What do you think the chances are they shut the season down this year?

 

[drahthaar]

I don't think they are going to close the woods. If they were going to do it, it would be done by now.
Hope I don't have to eat my foot, but I think it would have to get much worse(if you can imagine that) for them to shut it down.

 

[mtmiller]

I don't think they are going to close the woods. If they were going to do it, it would be done by now.
Hope I don't have to eat my foot, but I think it would have to get much worse(if you can imagine that) for them to shut it down.

Sounds like Fool Creek blew up yesterday. Not sure if I am headed over there or not. Better call me before 1300 or I will be in a lope blind this evening and in the morning.

As for closures, here is one area. Not sure about other forest-wide closures, but there are lots of trails and roads closed due to current wildlfires. The map does not show the closures of State and BLM parcels along the eastern edge of the forest boundary, but they are closed as well.

 

[MarvB]

Good luck Yetty...our Cali bow opener is Saturday and they've got a lot of ground closed down around here...issued "red flag warnings" for quite a bit of the FS grounds north and east of us.....

 

[280]

Officials not planning to shut down forests
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian



As bad as this fire season may get, we won't likely get locked out of the woods like we did in 2000.

“We don't have any plans to close the forest,” Lolo National Forest spokesman Boyd Hartwig said Friday. “Our feeling is it didn't work too well in 2000, and that isn't the road we're going down right now.”

Hikers, backcountry guides and boaters howled when then-Gov. Marc Racicot shut the gates on 10 million acres of western Montana starting Aug. 11, 2000.


That included eight counties, all of the Lolo and Bitterroot national forests, parts of the Helena and Beaverhead-Deerlodge national forests, the Flathead Indian Reservation, all Bureau of Land Management territory and all the lakes, rivers and streams in those areas that weren't privately owned.

“Those closures were not only hard to administer, but they had a tremendous impact on a whole lot of folks, in particular the outfitting, guiding and tourism industries,” said Bob Harrington, state forester for the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. “Tourists went other places. And at the end of the day, even though you can reasonably say we prevented a fire or two by going to those closures, it's real hard to quantify it.”

This time the plan is to close specific areas threatened by forest fire, but leave the rest of the region under existing Stage II fire restrictions. So while no one's allowed to recreate around Seeley Lake where the Jocko Lakes fire rages, they can still play in most of the Bitterroot canyons. Rock Creek is closed by the Sawmill Complex fires, but Lolo Creek remains open.

Of course, a turn in the weather could resurrect Racicot's policy by default. During the 2003 fire season, area closures effectively shuttered all of the Bitterroot and Lolo national forests.

Stage II rules prohibit campfires and smoking outside of protected areas, and “hoot-owl” schedules limit industrial activity to between 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily. So most human-caused fires are already illegal. On the other hand, having people in the woods has some benefits.

“Our citizens need to be eyes and ears out on the forest,” said Missoula District Ranger Maggie Pittman. “If they're not out there, they can't call us when they see something happening. The more people we have still enjoying and protecting the forest, the better.”

 

[MattK]

I don't know if they will postpone archery/ rifle season in MT but I just read an article that said the forests (in general) would not be closed. They said it would be too difficult to enforce and would be too burdensome to outfitters/ guides. They are basing this information on the fire season of 2000. They did say the fire danger is about as bad (if not worse) than in 2000.

Basically the same article as above...280 beat me to it.

 

[drahthaar]

Sounds like Fool Creek blew up yesterday. Not sure if I am headed over there or not. Better call me before 1300 or I will be in a lope blind this evening and in the morning.

As for closures, here is one area. Not sure about other forest-wide closures, but there are lots of trails and roads closed due to current wildlfires. The map does not show the closures of State and BLM parcels along the eastern edge of the forest boundary, but they are closed as well.

Yes, I should have said there are some specific closures around some of the fires, just too unsafe. I think the the only thing that will put out fool creek, ahorn, skyland, chippy creek, is snow. They are monsters.

I wish I could go hunt a speed goat. I am doing the countdown, packing and repacking for Sept 1. That article is good info. I didn't think they would want to take the beating they took like last time. But good gosh, people need to be smart.

 

[Yetty]

Sounds like we'll be hunting September 1st like planned. I guess all I need to know now is where can I find a stick that is 600 feet long to roast marshmallows on a forest fire?