RE the burned areas: The West Fork Complex fires burned a lot of 76 in 2013. Most of the area I explored south of Rio Grande Resevoir was not burned. The area I hunted was near the fire, and the Fern Creek Trail I took in to hunt goes through an extensive burn. There is lots of new aspen and grass growth, and it seemed like there ought to be elk there, but we saw no sign. It would be tough to hunt and the new aspens growth is thick and about head high or a little higher. Various people told me that the elk population was increasing in the burned areas, but I saw no evidence of that in the admittedly small area of the burn I explored.
THere is a good description of the fire on Wikipedia and if you google search you will find maps of the burned areas.
