GROWTH AFTER A FIRE

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Knockmdead

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I am kind of new to the web-site and just wondered what your thoughts were. I know of an area around my home in So. Utah that has produced some good bucks before. This last summer it was burnt by fire. We have been getting an unusual amount of moisture this year and I wondered if this will help that area?
How fast will the deer be back in that area and how fast can the feed grow back? Just a question for those that may know something more then I do.
 
They will defiently be back this year. You will notice how green everything will be this year. Hunt that area and you won't be disappointed.

IB
 
Thanks for the info. I like to bow hunt, what is the best way to hunt that area without any cover?
 
The deer will be back as soon as the next hunting season. Animal activity should be pretty thick come this spring, as well. As for cover for your bow hunting, it will be pretty tough the first year, if the fire burnt everything down to the skeleton. Otherwise there should be pockets of relatively lightly burned stuff (green). Game will utilize these areas, as they do not like being out in total open terrain (the better for you). For the same reasons, you should spend as much time along the outer fringe of the fire. Also you will have tons of cover in a couple years when the the burnt trees begin to topple over.
 
i've deer hunted in the desert for over 40 years. real desert. seldom do you see more than a few deer together. about 20 years ago there was a good lightning strike that started a good burn in some of the higher country where we hunt. probably burned a 100 acres or so. nothing very big. the next deer season there were big herds of deer in this burn. maybe as many as 75 total, every morning. it was in a real remote place and we had our own personall hunting preserve for several years, until the affects of the burn wore off. seemed like every buck in the country was in this burn for several years. we shot over a dozen nice bucks in 3 or 4 years, right in the burn or in the close vicinity. it was pretty amazing what the burn did. the browse came back thick and green and really attracted the hell outta the muleys. sorta like a "foodplot" i guess.
 
Forest service told me that a burn is the best thing that can happen for wildlife...He said that it would be excellent hunting ....and in the 3rd to the 4th year after the burn that it would be better hunting than before the fire.
 
Thanks so much for the info. If anyone else has anything more as far as hunting tips to bow hunt in a burnt area that would be great. I am really getting excited about the upcoming hunting season. Thanks again.
 
Burns offer very good hunting in my opinion. The only drawback, as you stated, is cover. That is why spot and stalk is the way to go. Camoflauge yourself to match the burns. Ash will be present everywhere and will actually give you some thing to mask your scent with. Rub ash all over your boots and spread some over your clothes. I know it sounds silly but, in most instances, the deer will smell you before they see you, especially if wind changes direction. The smell of ash and burnt trees is natural to them now so take advantage of that.

Another advantage to ash and burnt/soft soil is the ability to be quieter on your stalk. Pay attention to where you step, and take advantage of the ash/powder that surrounds burnt trees and such. Not only will you be covering your boots in ash (again) but taking a quiet step.

New plant growth will be evident and you will see deer sign. Trust me. Also, look for pockets of the forest that didn't get burnt. They supply cover for wildlife and might just be the perfect bedding area for them as well as a hiding place for you.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"
 
I hunted mule deer in around a fresh burn a few years ago. It was still BLACK everywhere! I think all the deer for miles around were grouped in that place. I shot a small buck in the blackest stuff you've ever seen. Not a sprig of green in sight. Both the deer and I were covered in ash when we got out of there. I'm still amazed that they were in that crap.
 
Deer are early successional species. Fires set back succession, thus fires can be (there are some exceptions) an excellent way to improve habitat for deer. When the enviro/preservationists talk about "old growth" management read few deer or elk. They don't eat big trees.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"
 
I have actually seen, on several occasions, deer eating charcoal from recent fires. I've heard that eating charcoal helps get rid of worms. And rolling in the ash helps control fleas and ticks.

We were backpacking in a wilderness area in Northern California some years back and the deer would pester us all night long, trying to get into our campfire pit. No way could you run them off.

Steve
 
Come on Steve!!! Eatting ash,keeping you guys up at night!! They were eatting left over marshmellows(smores)and hot dogs,old chew!LOL!!!
I have harvested a few bucks next to smoking stumps during open season with a wildfire(CA's G1 hunt,and B zone).
Fire is a very natural event for all wildlife and trees and plants! It is however very bad for streams,creeks and rivers which get choked up by debries(sp?),rocks and boulders from slides and ash run off and then have to use T.N.T to clear or open it up.
A green up can happen within a few weeks.
And it will be a great wildlife magnet for up too seven years!
However their are no secrets every fire fighter and his buddies and all of there friends will be licking they'er chop right up til opening day!(I did not say any thing about the roads that we're made to get equipment in and out! re: ROAD HUNTERS)
RACKMASTER
 
RACKMASTER,

Now that I think about it, it could have been the left over instant pudding they were after. I can't believe my buddy could botch something so simple as instant pudding! You gotta be careful who you invite on a 40 mile hike. :)

Steve
 
You guys have some great information and some that seems a little bit out there (Deer eating marshmellows)lol. Thanks for the tips. Keep them coming they will be a great help in a few months.
 
Knockmdead, I live in a part of Montana that was burnt to a crisp in 2000. As I was working in the area of the fires, I was there almost daily. What I noticed the year after the fire is alot more grasses and other feed in the burnt areas. Some of these burnt areas had limited buck tags available before the fires, but I noticed an increase in large bucks after the burns. Maybe they were just more visible with reduced cover, or maybe the increase in forage helped. I don't happen to hunt any burned areas, but my buddies that do still had good success, deer and elk. I don't bowhunt,(yet) so I don't have any tips there. As bad as fires are when they happen, I think they are beneficial in the long run. Good luck, mtmuley
 
No doubt about it if you can find a burn area you will find animals they love it.CM
 
Not only do deer like the old burns, so do the hunters as you can tell. I am from s. utah as well, and i know the fire you are discussing and you are going to have to fight to find a spot to hunt there this year. The deer were back into the burn before the muzzel loader hunt even came around this last year, and it turned into a slotter house. Lots of good deer were killed, and the effects of a low buck population (mature Bucks) will be evident this year. I have archery hunted for over 10 yrs. and you would be better off using this spring to find a nother place to look if you are after a good buck. There will be lots of does and fawns in the area, but the bigger bucks will look for heavier cover.
 
Ponyboy,
What part of So. Ut are you from, and what area are you talking about? I am talking of a place that just burnt late last summer.
 
I know after the Missionary Ridge fire in Durango the elk and deer were in there immediately, you could see places where they pawed under rocks and logs and eating the grass under the ashes. It was pretty neat, also just weeks after where a location burned there were already aspens and oak brush sprouting back.
 
I also live in So Utah. And I agree with ponyboy on this one. I also think I know what fire you are talking about. Actually the deer never left the area. I scouted the area before the fire and went back in as soon as the forest service opened the roads back up. I was able to find the same bucks living in green patches that didn't get burned. There were new green shoots coming up 3 weeks after the fire and the deer were there to eat them.
 
Knockmdead, I am from St. George. The fire was the Hawkins Fire or Hawkins Complex, My crew and I worked on this fire for two weeks. It covered from Enterprise going south west corect? or if this is not the correct fire, let me know and I could give you some good insight on what is going on.
 

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