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

really smoky here in paradise valley, got a little rain last night....just enough to keep the dust down....bob

More smoke in the Gallatin valley today than I can ever remember seeing in the 40+ years that I have lived here.

Buffybr: Visibilty here in the Beaverhead Valley right now is 1 1/2 miles!
The only good news is a 90% chance of rain this afternoon (August 20th).
The worst smoke since I have been here (21 years) was back about 4 years ago when visibility was .6 miles (six tenths of a mile).
Come on rain!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I was down in the Centennial valley up Hell Roaring Creek. It was lush green up in the mountains and very wet. You would be hard pressed to start a fire there even if you wanted to.
We have also been getting rain consistently since Saturday night in Billings and today was very cool and wet.

I have shot a lot of elk, but never have I hunted a recent burn expecting to see elk. There is a lot of Montana out here and the animals move to another area where there is grass, cover and water. You need to do the same...

That is absolutely the best tact to deal with this year's burns...

If there's no feed in a burn, you can't expect them to be there. Even after it starts growing, they need time to find it and move back in. Our summers and autumns here are normally very dry. After a summer burn, I wouldn't even bother checking for elk sign until the next year. New growth takes water that we seldom have when it's warm enough for anything to grow.

Roger that fellas. Thanks for the help!