Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Fires in SW Montana

Things seem to be heading downhill fast for my upcoming elk/deer hunt. My brother and I drew general combo licenses for elk/deer in MT. He has a cabin in SW Montana. We were planning a rifle hunt, but due to some scheduling conflicts that got changed to an archery hunt the last 2 weeks of September. Now, two wildfires are buning in SW Montana in the area we planned to hunt, and the fires are threatening his cabin as well. All that aside, we're planning to make the best of it. My question is, to you guys who live out there, and who have experienced this : after the fire moves through how soon will animals move back in? I'm sure some of it depends on how bad an area is burned. But if New grass/vegetation starts popping up, will the deer and elk(or bears, I'm not above hunting them to potentially salvage a trip)move back in to feed. Are we totally screwed, should we look for a new area? Or is it possible that there will be pockets of unburnt areas that will concentrate the animals? I'm just looking for suggestions, as I've never experienced this before, and trying to plan ahead as much as possible in the next 30 days before we get out there and see what we have to deal with.

Anyone? There's gotta be someone on here that's dealt with a fire in their hunting area

Go view the Randy Newberg youtube videos or listen to his podcasts on hunting areas after a burn. best i can do for ya.

Borden811: Don't panic for this years Hunt.
The Goldstone Pass fire is in rather remote country on the border with Idaho.
Lots of area around that fire to Hunt.
Indeed the fire season started here early lightning is predicted in the area for Friday August 17th.
But again your Elk tags are valid in a massive area.
I used to backpack archery Elk Hunt every year in a corner quadrant of the Anaconda/Pintlar Wilderness - very few Deer there due to the elevation and jackpine forests that went on forever.
One year they caught fire and burned up all my Elk Hunting favorite haunts (in that quadrant) - I didn't bother going back there for five years and the Elk were back by then even though no dog hair thickets to hide/sleep/cool off in.
So I am guessing that after three years or so the Elk will be back in the Goldstone fire grazing on nutritious grasses caused in part by the current fire - where they will take refuge (bedding areas) I can't say.
Elk can cover a LOT of ground in an hour!A lot can change in the next 30 days but I see little hope that the fire season will end early this year.
I will look up the other fire you are referring to - not sure about where it is.
Good luck this season.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Borden811: I just went to the Fire Incident site for the Goldstone fire and as of one hour ago it is at 4,000 acres with 75 firefighters working on it.
It is 0% (zero percent!) contained as of now.
I am enclosing the incident site link for you.
There are no other fires in that area as of now.

Link: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6091/

The site says the information is available to phones - I am not sure how that works but it could come in handy as you travel closer.
There are road closures in the area but I did not investigate that.
I have Hunted that area many times and it goes on forever - 4,000 acres is a pittance of burnt land compared the the vastness of that area.
Let me know if I can help further.
Good luck.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The wigwam and monument fires are the ones that will impact our hunt. Ennis is ground zero for us.

Since July 27, the entire western US has been at the highest level of fire fighting preparedness-level 5. Just today, there were 114 new wildfires reported in the western US, and there is simply not enough resources available to suppress all of them. Moreover, here in southwest Montana the forecast calls for widely scattered dry lighting storms this weekend, and with 7 million acres of dead lodgepole pine in the State, there is a real potential for a lot more acres to burn before hunting season. CP.

Listened to Randy's podcast. It gave great info on how to hunt a burn, and what makes them productive, but that was for a year or more after the burn. I guess what I'm ultimately asking is, will a burnt area be huntable on the edges of the burn 3-4 weeks later, or is trying that area totally useless and a waste of time?

I wouldn't worry too much yet about those fires yet. Just keep an eye on them. They are undoubtedly going to grow before they are extinguished, but right now they are only consuming a small amount of the area.

I live and hunt in Az where fires are frequent. The first animals back in to a burn will be elk. They will actually roll in the ash to help kill fleas and ticks. You will be fine.

I tagged long with one of my sons and a buddy on their hunt in Wyo 2 years ago. The Lava Mountain fire had burned through (about 16,000 acres as I recall) 2 months earlier. Lots of elk all along the fringe of the burn and we saw a few groups passing thruareas that were totally burned out. Good luck on your hunt and sure hope your brothers cabin is not impacted. Driving up thru that area later today, beautiful country.

The 20,000 acre Badger Creek fire hit the Medicine Bow National Forest in early June and one spot fire got within 50 yards and another within 20 yards of our cabin. We have game camera footage of a moose, appearing totally unconcerned, walking in the back of our property at 3 a.m. about 10 hours after the firefighters put out the spot fires. My wife got video of a small heard of elk crossing the highway going from one burned area to another about a month after the fire. She also has pictures of a deer sitting in a burned patch in the forest and of a moose feeding down a power line right of way. The deer are still all over our property. If you go to the Foxpark, WY Facebook page, you will see a lot of big and small game pictures taken within a mile of the perimeter. The biggest problem right now is that the public land within the perimeter is still subject to an access ban except for a highway running through it, because of unstable burned trees (on top of the beetle kill problem). Unless something changes soon, I won’t be able to access the area for the archery opener on September 1, and I will have to hunt a different area outside the perimeter. I consider that a minor glitch in the big scheme of things. Thanks, firefighters!

Borden811: Yesterday (Friday the 17th of August) myself and some friends headed over east to Ennis, Montana for the 24th annual Hunter's Rendevous at Shedhorn Sports.
We got to Ennis about noon and puttered around town (east side) for a couple hours til the Rendevous opened at 2:00 PM.
Then we spent about 3 1/2 hours there at the Rendevous talking with the 43 factory reps there and buying things on sale.
We left town about 6:00 PM and in the interim a huge fire fighting base had been set-up and trucks and equipment and people galore had moved into the town on the west side with temporary signs giving directions to incoming personnel - all this in a matter of a few hours.
Today when I returned to Ennis, alone, to purchase a handgun at the Rendevous, I learned that three fires had started early Friday and one had been put out already the other two were/are blazing away!
The two fires still burning were south of Ennis one on the east side of the Madison Valley (Madison Range) and the other on the west side of the Madison Valley (Gravelly Range)!
Gonna be a tough fire season it seems.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Schit moves back in quicker than most would think.

deflave is right. Critters move back in faster than most think. That said, this is relatively late in the fire and veg growing seasons, so depending on all the variables there may or may not be anything in those burns for animals to benefit from this September. As far as the fire goes, any number of variables can determine how fast the area becomes useful again for critters. Fire intensity, speed, temperature, soil type, veg type, moisture levels as well as the species's physiology comes into play.

That's a long way to say: it depends.

I recall from my days getting a forestry degree that ungulates recognize the bonanza a fire brings. After a spring or early summer fire, they will be in the charred out areas looking for shoots of grass that explode with growth.
As the season progresses vegetation will be limited by day length and heat. In either case, hunting a burn can pay dividends as the forest reclaims its growth cycle.

If one gets some of the summer rains typical of Mt and the vegetation sprouts, the edges of the burn will be great hunting for foraging critter. Unburned islands within will also hold shaded up or resting game.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


This...especially if anything green has time to sprout ...BTDT.

More new fires over the weekend here in Montana. Very smokey this morning. Last thing I am thinking about is hunting season when I can barely see the ridge west of my house due to smoke. That ridge is only a mile away. If we don't get rain soon the situation will only get worse. More fuel than ever on the ground because of good rains during Spring and early Summer. Everybody is on pins and needles every time a thunderstorm comes through. Friday night a storm came through and started 4 fires within 10 mile of the ranch, but local fire departments rushed out and got them all put out before they took off. So at this point, I could care less about hunting season.

DLSguide: I certainly hope the firefighters get a handle on the fires and you remain safe.
I remember one year when the governmental agencies closed the Hunting season (closed it the day before the Deer opener!) in the gigantic area south of I-94 and east of I-90 in SE Montana!
That was a bummer for myself and my Hunting partners as we had driven all the way from Seattle to Alzada, Montana (1,050 miles!) for that opener. We sat and waited patiently for two days but the fire danger was just to great no let up on that closure - we had to retreat to an area in central Montana we had never Hunted before.
Bummer that but we as Hunters must abide.
12 more days to the Elk archery Hunting opener and I would NOT be surprised if closures don't come into effect unless there are dramatic weather changes SOON.
Two archery non-resident Hunting friends of mine just had their forest service cabin longtime reservation CANCELLED by the forest service Friday!
Fire danger was the reason of course.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy