This might cause some change in hunting plans this fall
http://inciweb.org/incident/3547/

Heavy beetle kill.. sounds like it needs to burn. Is that a limited draw zone?

That whole mtn range is covered with beetle kill along with the snowy range. If this hot dry wind keeps pushing this could turn into a fire of epic porportions. It's burning in some pretty rough country .
No it's general elk and deer license, extremely popular with hunters from the south half of the state. And highly coveted for nonresident deer licenses as there are some super quality mule deer to be found with enough foot work.
Archery season will kick off there shortly, followed by the swarm of orange men on the first of Oct and going into November,,, If it's not still burning, or if there's anything but ash left.

It's the same country where the Ogllalla's pinned Frapp to a tree with a lance, and tried to burn the rest of the company out in the 1840's. There's still evidence of that fire around.

Let it burn.

Until the beetle epidemic dies down or all the dead beetle trees burn, I think we can see a long future of fires on western US. Here in CO , one fire has consumed over 80,000 acres.

Until you see fire licking at your back door, you might say let it burn. BTDT

Where that fire is burning, if it heads east or north, not much loss to private properties, wind shift to coming out of the north, and it's not that far to Steamboat and it's surrounding development, the big blowdown from a few years ago, and more fuel than you can shake a stick at.

It's at 103 acres. Don't get your panties in a wad yet.

That country would benefit greatly from fires, in particular for mule deer habitat.

No panties in wad here... altho anybody that's spent time on a fireline, knows that it only take but a few minutes and the mofo is gone and out of control.... Especially with the amount of fuel that thing has to work with, it ain't no flat friggin Montana wheat field.

Yes the pines crowded the quakies and grass out, a good fire surely would help the available forage for deer, elk and the bighorn sheep.
But keeping that thing under control in that canyon isn't going to be easy.

From reading the fire report...its sounds about like it was prescribed.

"creeping, isolated/group torching"

Tough to top that kind of fire activity for wildlife habitat and fuel reduction goals...as well as keeping things under "control".

Not really the type of fire that is common for a lodgepole type...which historically has been stand replacement (crown fire).

But, its better than no fire at all.

Looking at Wydot atmospheric stations, humidity is staying up in the 40% range, which is a bunch better than the 2% they had the other day.
When I was up there last fall the amount of standing dead was pretty spooky and it won't take much to make a running crown fire that can go 2 or three miles in a matter of minutes.
Hopefully they can keep handle on it , let it do some good.
But it's something that folks may want to be aware of if planning on some preseason archery scouting, or as I was thinking about chasing some brookies in that creek with a fly rod if a couple days..

I think if the beetle killed trees have dropped their needles, your chance of stand replacing crown fire is lower then with live lodgepole or dead trees with needles.

Just because the trees are dead doesn't mean the fire is gonna be a gobbler.

Lots of engleman spruce and douglas fir mixed in there, along with plumb brush, sand cherries , etc.
Plenty of fuels for things to get really bad if the conditions change. No roads etc to the east of it to speak of, where they can get good fire lines, and if it jumps the creek and the canyon over into the wilderness... It'll be throwing a smoke plume for a while..

Have you seen a dry wheat field burn in a wind event? You'd better be on your horse if it's headed your way.

Ya can't get too worked up about the small fires. They are burning all over the west right now, in fuel conditions just like these. Some will go big, most won't.

[bleep] the horse, I'll take the tractor and a 20 ft tandem disc,,,

Ever tell you about the time I took the tractor and a 12 ft subsoiler thru a fire storm to save some of the neighbors houses and out building in the middle of the night?.
Last little fire I was on , when the yellow shirts pronounced it all good, and everyone should come down off the mtn for a meeting and get a good supper.. 4 days and 16 K acres later we had it contained...

Haha - agreed!

When I mentioned not getting too caught up on the little fires, what I was getting at is not so much to ignore them and not take them seriously. I'm saying that when it comes down to it, there are waaayyy more fires around than most people realize. Getting caught up on one and worrying about it before it does any real damage is a good way to stress yourself right into a heart attack...because the lightning storm that caused it may have started twenty more. Put it out and move on to the next one.

If the general public knew how many fires were put out by fire crews, ranchers, or mother nature herself without being reported widely (or at all) they would collectively schit themselves.

I have had fire at my back door. Hose lines flaked out and charged..

Only a wind change and a P3 kept it off of us. But I had already accepted it as a smoking hole in the ground, from the first day we moved there. More people,e need to do that if they're going to live up there.

It's not uncommon to find a big black spot out in the pasture...
What never quits making me nervous is when you listen to and watch a thunderstorm coming over the horizon, and the smell of smoke gets to you before the rain...
And going out in the morning to do chores and seeing this

That one could get ugly fast. A strong west wind and they'll be lucky to stop it at the Con. Divided. That's some tuff country to fight fire in.
We are getting rain here in Cheyenne tonight, we need it.

Just check the radar, rain should be there in a hour or so..