To burn or not to burn....

[Gutpile]

Everyone talks of hunting burns, but is there a point where a burn becomes stale? I'm considering a unit in co this year with a large but decade+ old burn. Would you shy away from such an area?

[Swede]

The benefit of burns is the improved forage they produce. It usually takes a couple of years for them to get really good. They won't stay at their peak for very many years. There are several factors, but they slowly return to pre-burn levels. Grasses become "woody" as opposed to tender and succulent, nutrients are less, and they get crowded out by later stage vegetation (brush & trees). I think dirty burns that do not kill a lot of the vegetation, but leave strips and islands intact for cover are the best.

[mtnmutt]

They can be elk magnets if aspens replaced the once pine treed area.

Have you examined the vegetation now in the area? Try Google Earth to pass over your area. It will give you an idea. Try Google search for a burn severity report of the burn area.

Hayman (2002 fire) burn: large groves of 10+ yrs old aspens now grow were pines used to grow. The elk love the food under aspens. Nearby these large areas of regrowth are places that still look like the moon (2013). The fire burned so hot that all roots were destroyed and the soil became sterile.

Unfortunately, the elk get out of the large aspen grove Hayman burn area by first light due to hunting pressure.

Quotes from news report for the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire
The Waldo Canyon Fire, the most destructive wildfire in state history, burned so hot that wildfire experts say that nearly 20 percent of the total 18,247 acres (29 square miles) consumed by the blaze was burned so severely that no living vegetation was left on the surface nor root systems left below the surface to a depth of about 4 inches, The Associated Press reports.

BAER broke the burn severity of the soils and watersheds into three levels, besides the nearly 20 percent severely burned, the group found the remainder of the area to be 41 percent low or unburned severity (7,586 acres) and 40 percent moderate severity (7,286 acres), according to InciWeb.org

[Gutpile]

Thanks for the info here - I was referring to the haymen burn so glad to hear it has some upsides in areas. It looked like a wasteland when I drove through it a couple weeks ago. I was thinking about the progression of vegetation in an area like that and wasn't considering hot vs lesser burns. Unit 501 is not an every year draw for an in stater but I'm liking the large tracks of wilderness there.