Anyone out there have one? I don't, but I was curious what people with tags were planning with the Wallow fire still burning nearly 1/2 million acres.

Good luck to anyone who has a tag.

Have a NM unit 15 tag (right across the line). Hope they get it under control soon as the area I hunt looks like it may be next. Where do you think those displaced elk will end up? Gonna have to do a lot of serious scouting later in the summer...
John

I am supposed to guide 3 hunts there this fall. Not sure what I am going to do yet- wait until it quits burning and see what's left I guess. The lower part of 27 is still intact as is the northwestern areas of unit 1. A lot of elk have remained in the islands of trees and unburned meadows that the fire missed. There has been a notable amount of mortality though.

Has there been an exodus of animals to the res? I would guess alot went north as that was the direction the wind was blowing, that way they kept the smoke up wind of them. Some probably went to NM and the res??

I got a unit 5A tag was going to go up and scout next week, doesn't seem right. Plus I'm guessing the FS is cracking down on campers hard, everywhere.

How far south does 27 go? It gets pretty flat and open if you go too far.

I am also concerned if we get heavy monsoon rains that will wash and possible forage downslope in a hurry. Them animal will move out.

27 does not get flat no matter how far south you go. It runs to the Gila River.

There are some nasty mountains in the southern part, in fact, it's actually MORE rugged in the south, Grey peak, Pat Mountain, Sardine saddle et al make for some rough country. The flattest part is just as you get on top- where the fire started.

I don't know where the elk fled to. Doesn't matter much as they will be moving around a lot between now and September. Not sure what the FS will open but I suspect a lot of it will be locked off and make for some pretty mad elk hunters.

From everything i've read, the elk have not fled very far at all. According to fish and game since this is a mosaic fire, it does not burn everything in it's path. The animals just move off to a cooler area while the fire passes and then they come back. I read deer will actually waller around in the ash on the ground while it is still smoking because it removes ticks. In one article I read they said they have only found 1 Dead elk.
Ive seen a few pics on the web of elk grazing not far from the areas where the grass has been burnt out. Anyone with a tag in these units will probably have to worry more about what areas will be closed by the forest service for the clean up after the fire is gone than the availability of game.

I have a cow hunt in unit 1 but also can go to 2B or 2C. You can bet I'll be asking my friends about my favorite areas that were in the fire later this summer.

According to G and F's article based on studies of the second largest fire in Az's history, the Rodeo-Chediski fire, the game will return and be pretty much evenly distributed.

exerpt from article:

"it is anticipated that a significant portion of Units 1 and 27 will have adequate forage, and that elk will be well distributed prior to the hunts."


http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/fire_impacts_on_wildlife.shtml

There has been a significant mortality of calves and some of the cows. They don't want to refund any money so there won't be a lot said about this. Maybe less cow tags next year.

These two images of Escudilla Mtn were snagged off another forum.

Here is a link to the burn severity map
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ftp/InciWeb/AZASF/2011-05-31-00:57-wallow/picts/pict-20110628-215436-0.jpeg