Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Colo Drought and 2012 elk season

[quote=dogcatcher223]CO usually starts getting rain in August. If that holds true this year, then I would not worry about any closures, etc. [/quote

Even if it rains a little in August, it will be too little, too late.

If possbile, I'd suggest hunting the edges of the burns. While there will be few groceries, those that emerge will be the ultimate in quality since there will be no old growth to sort through.

Most herbivores will take quality over quantity every day.

We had a large burn north of us about 4 years ago. To the ire of hunters, the agencies closed near all of the roads. When the season was over, the hunters were tickled pink. Virtually no competition, no traffic spooking the game, and the biggest of the big boys were out and about every day.

Mother nature is doing her job. What's bad is the mismanagement of our forests over the past century.

The fire just blew up in Colorado Springs about 4PM,It came over the 1st ridge and homes are burning. A thunder stome towards the north caused winds of 55 miles an hour and everything went up.There was a pre evacution notice ,but it changed so quickly that a mass evacuation is taking place on the west side in two more sub divisions and roads are choked with evacuees.

The Air Force Academy is on pre evacution notice.Mandatory evacuation is in up to the south side of the Academy,over to I-25

It's about as bad as it can get,but I suppose it will get worse as night falls and tankers can't fly to hold the flame. sback

Watching all this on the news. Like the gates of Hell have opened uo and we're getting a look inside.

Now we have a new fire next to Boulder from lightning.

I did not draw a tag so still wait and see what is available as leftover. I am a novice but would think that drainages leading away from fire areas would be likely areas to consider.

National weather service is calling for dry lighting here this evening and tonight...yea! NOT! Saddlesore...hope you and your family are safe!

Saddlesore, ash is falling now in our area from the latest flareup.

Holy moly! watching it on the news, looks like some houses are getting torched.

I am watching Colorado news, and they are reporting that 32,000 people have been or will be shortly evacuated in Colorado Springs. CP.

We need more help.

"the mismanagement of our forests" ain't the primary issue here, the primary issue is people like you and me getting burned out.

My son is a student in Boulder, and is on pre-evacuation. I'll call him up and tell him not to worry, mother nature's just doing her job.

If you live in he mountains you deal with the fact that this could someday happen. If you live on the coast you realize you run the risk of being wiped out by a hurricane. If you live in tornado alley you run the risk of having an F5 tornado wipe out the town you live in, anywhere you live there are certain risks associated with Mother Nature. Thats just a fact of life.

The point that I am trying to make is that due to our fire suppression tactics we have exacerbated the problem as it pertains to fire. Its the one of the few things we have the ability to control with Mother Nature and we haven't been doing a very good job. Studies show that some of the huge fires we have had over the past decade were not the norm in the past. Fire-scar records and tree-ring data for Ponderosa Pine forests in the southwest prove this.

Here is an excellent article pertaining to the problems that we have created...

http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2012/05/18/mega-fires-in-southwest-due-to-forest-mismanagement/

Smokepole, I am not trying to diminish the impact that this has on your family and many other families but if you cannot get past the emotion of seeing this happen in your backyard and understand that in the future we can do more to prevent these types of fires then you're burying your head in the sand and that does nobody any good

Under the disguise of non-profit organizations and saviors of the environment and endangered species, groups like the Sierra Club, Friends of the Forest Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity have been strong advocates against logging, the burning of small natural fires, and grazing on federally held forest land. Excessive Forest Service regulation, Endangered Species Act regulations, clean water regulations and more, prevent the salvaging of dead trees and cleanup of excess dead vegetation. This has resulted in a dangerous and large build up of extremely dry dead trees, excess brush and thick vegetation undergrowth. A ticking time bomb waiting for a single lightening strike to set it off. I have been saying for years that CO was due for another fire like the Hayman fire or worse.

Causality is the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first. To say that the primary issue is that "we are getting burned out" is simply wrong. The primary issue, or cause, of these fires is mismanagement by our federal government and environmentalists that allow our valuable resources to go to waste and eventually become a ticking time bomb for all of us that live in the mountain states. The result of all of all of this, or the effect, is that we are getting burned out. Which would you prefer to focus on Smokepole, the cause or the effect?

I am not trying to be callous or rude but instead of just blaming Mother Nature we need to come at this problem with logic and reason to try and help reduce the risk of these types of fires in the future.

As for your son, it sucks that he is on pre evacuation notice but if it would make you feel any better my family would absolutely open our doors for him if he needs a place to stay close to Boulder. I am located in Windsor and when he's not taking summer school classes he can fish in one of the 5 private lakes in the subdivision or hit Pelican Lakes Golf Course which is just a few hundred yards from my front door. I am being as serious as a forest fire here, please extend the invitation to him for me

Kind'a hard to think about draining the swamp when you are up to your ass in alligators.

I'd be happy to talk about all this someday,but not now.

I fear all the Rampart Range sheep herd is gone.The quarry was completely surrouned by fire

I understand and I hope you know that you and your family as well as all of the families that are being effected by these fires are in my thoughts and prayers every day

Nothing you've said above is news to me, so please don't waste your time with the lecture. I just think it's unfortunate that any time a natural disaster occurs, people tend to grind whatever axe they have to grind. Don't take that personally, everyone including me does it.

I'm not letting "emotion" slant my view of these fires; the plain fact is these are being called the worst fires in Colorado history because of where they're burning and the number of homes destroyed.

If you look at where the fires are burning and causing the most damage, it's in populated areas, lots of private land, subdivisions and such. None of the stuff you aid about USFS policies or the Sierra Club apples in these places where homes are being destroyed.

So I don't think I'm the one letting emotion or my own point of view color my judgment. I think when it's all said and done, this fire season will be ascribed to just what the firefighters are saying--a calamitous combination of continued record hot temperatures on top of an already dry year, bad winds, dry thunderstorms, and no rain. And add in the beetle kill.

Same here. Kinda thought it went without saying.

I've spent more time reading the Denver Post and other Colorado newspapers online recently than the local ones. This is a catastrophy, I hope you all get some relief soon, really soon.

I was merely stating facts. Your argument reminds me of the guy that cusses God for getting cancer and he smoked a pack a day for 50 years. Cause and effect is a difficult concept for people to understand in stressful times.

Its funny that you ended with the part about what firefighters are saying but don't like what I had to say. I am a firefighter that's wildland certified and what I have said on this thread are the very things we discuss frequently in our training meetings. The only reason I'm not working these fires this summer is because I could not commit to 14 day or longer deployments with an 11 week old daughter at the house.

If you think I have an axe to grind you're right but I haven't voiced any of that in this thread or any others. Property loss sucks, loss of life tears me up and when the conditions can be mitigated by being proactive and responsible with our natural resources and aren't I take issue with that.

If you cannot see Huntsonora's point, then you are being too emotional. I will take this one step further...Developers gobble up winter range building mcmansions for people, and then everyone is surprised when a fire rolls through and torches everything.