Elk and Fire

[Wyo67]

Made it up to scout our area around Laramie Peak, WY this past weekend. The Arapaho fire has claimed over 100,000 acres up there this year. Some areas were obviously devastated, while other areas around the mountain had random patches of 20-25 acre areas burned, with the remainder of the draw or mountainside untouched. Anyone have experience hunting around recently burned areas? Saw a few elk in creek bottoms in that evening, so they're still around. Just not sure how much their behavior would be affected by all of the fire-fighting efforts over the past month...

Any inputs/thoughts greatly appreciated.

Mike

[foxvalley]

From what I have been told, if there is new growth coming up after the burn, it could be an elk magnet. We had an area burn couple years back,and thought it would be great the following year, but it still looks like a moonscape. No new growth............ Find the food.

[JohnFitzgerald]

I've found that new growth depends on how hot the fire burnt. Do some field tests by digging down into the soil at different spots. If the sterile earth is more than a 1/4 inch cover, it will be a while before new growth comes back.

[Swede]

Scout the area near the time for the season to open, or when you expect to hunt. I like hunting around what is referred to as a "dirty burn". That is one where small areas are burned while other areas are still intact or nearly intact. Dirty burns are not so hot that you get a scorched earth. New and nutritious growth shoud be back by next spring. Beddeng areas should still be available along with some excellent feed.

[Bow4Elk]

We hunted and area that was on fire opening weekend one year. Went back two weeks later and found elk in the burn. There were still smoldering stumps and hot underground root balls that you had to watch for. Hard to sneak up on them in the black toothpicks but once the fire is out the elk are right back in there.