Antler, I expanded a lot on my soapbox in another string (fire good 0r bad? or something like that)Check it out, lots of good discussion on there.
Yea I can tell you that a fire that size is indicative of big problem. I'm not out there, I don't know the country so I probably should have stayed out of it. I can say, in my experience with fires, when you hear the big numbers like that (280,000 acres was the last i heard) not nearly all of that is completely toasted. When you get out there in 3-4 months there may be much (maybe most) of it that you wouldn't even know had burned. There also may be much of it that looks like a moonscape. If you'd get some rain this summer, you might see some benefit right away There are spring species and fall species of grass and forbs and it's not impossible to think the deer will back in there sooner than later. You mentioned that some great winter and summer range had been burned. From my armchair quarterback keyboard (800 miles away) I'd guess the country either had a lot of room for improvement, or will bounce back very quickly. I'd guess that the areas you'd concider good winter and summer range will be bigger and better over the next several years. Maybe I'm just trying to put a positive spin on it, I don't know.
I think you're right in assuming that alot of the country May suffer in the context of THIS year's hunt, but I wouldn't conceed that the sky has fallen yet. In some ways, a blackened pin cushion of dead snags with a bunch of weeds growing every where looks better to a mule deer than the pitchuresque forest that was there before. All my best honey holes are recent burns that still look pretty ugly. I don't know, I'm totally specualting, but then again, so is everyone else. I also understand that the fires out in Utah have had severe concequences for some folks, much more significant than the quality of the deer habitat.
One things for sure, pray for rain and have your neighbor do it too.
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?I want as game protectors men of courage, resolution, and hardihood, who can handle the rifle, ax, and paddle; who can camp out in summer or winter; who can go on snowshoes if necessary; who can go through the woods by day or night without regard to trails" Theodore Roosevelt-1899
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