rangerstud620

Well, a grass fire is finally done torching my favorite hunting land. Supposedly it burned up 5,000 acres. Looks like I need to start looking for a new place to hunt. ARGH!!! I was just starting to really understand the deer behavior in that area, but I guess it will never be the same again. It' s sad to see a nice riverbottom area like that go up in flames because of a campfire left unattended.

4 years ago, much of the area was flooded and now it' s so dry that it burned the past 2 springs, unfortunately this year much worse. The deer were finally coming back strong in numbers and size. Hmmm....maybe I will have to get permission to hunt on the adjacent land where the wildlife headed to.

bigbulls

Don' t count out that land. I immagine if you get some rain this spring there might be some good new growth comming up. This season might be a bit too early but the next few years after that might be really good.

TFOX

I am with Bigbulls on this one.Fresh vegitation will be coming up quickly providing much food.patterns will definately be different but I would keep an eye on it.

DaveH

The others are right. New vegetation shoudl quickly begin to sprout up all over the area and deer should be using much of it as a reachable food source. In a few years, it should be a thick tangle that big bucks love!

BuckAlley

Fire has been used as a management tool for new growth for yrs. It' ll regrow this spring.

rangerstud620

I was wondering if the deer would come back right away but there is not much cover left for them. A few big cottonwoods that are burnt to a crisp and some other small trees that are burnt are all thats left. A few years ago, a part of that riverbottom burned and now it' s one big grassy clearing, with few deer in it. For whatever reason, there are no new trees growing in that area. I' m afraid the same will happen with the new areas that burned. It seems the only way to get some new trees will be to plant them.

This used to be a very thick riverbottom. Most of the 12+ sq. miles were heavily wooded. But with the fires of the past few years, there is not much for wooded areas left. When and if the deer do come back this year, I' m guessing it will be very tough to hunt them since there won' t be much cover. I guess I will just have to wait and see what the summer brings. We' ve been in a serious drought for 3 yrs now so vegetation will be scarce this year unless we get some very much needed rain.

TFOX

I really can' t say for sure but I have a friend that had a truck pull up in a field beside his house and the hot muffler caught the sage brush on fire,along with the truck.(long story and huge moron).Anyway,the fire burnt about 5 acres and the rest of the field was fine.My friend would report seing deer in the fresh regrowth in the middle of the day right beside his house on several occasions and I' m talking within a matter of days.

I know this is a much smaller scale but that' s why I say to keep your eye out.

txbowjunkie

they' ll be back sooner than you think.

rangerstud620

Well I just got back from the burned riverbottom. Most all of the area was burned, and all that remains are the charred remains of the trees. Fortunately, there is one area that did not burn, thanks to the firefighters' use of a gravel road as a fire block. You guys were right...I saw 7 deer in the area. That was surprising to me considering the amount of smoke that was present the past couple days and there was still a fair amount of smoke in the air due to some hot spots. I was really surprised to see 3 deer in a burned portion of the land. Definitely a good sign!!

I heard from some nearby landowners that they did notice alot more wildlife on their land the past couple of days. Now we need some rain to green everything up and attract the deer back. It should be interesting to watch the deer this year and see how their patterns have changed.

davidmil

Two or three years and it' ll be like gold. 5 or 6 years and it' ll be thick and full of beds.