Best "age" burns for deer.

[TauPhi111]

I'm hunting Utah this year and I am looking at some burns to hunt. I know game are drawn to burns to feed on the new growth, but I'm not really sure what age burns are the best. When does a burn really become productive? 2 years after the fire? 4 years? the year after the fire? School me please.

 

[Northpark]

Well kind of depends on what time of year the fire happened. Spring fire vs fall fire. But generally animals return to burns especially dirty ones almost immediately. 2 years later is probably the best generic answer but honestly lots of things come into play such as was it a low intensity underburn in ponderosa pine or a high intensity stand replacement burn in lodgepole. Also slope aspect, elevation, and cover type all play a role.

Go with one to six years post burn and you should be good.

 

[kcormack]

"When does a burn become really productive". 2-4 weeks, 2-4 years and all the time in between can be really productive. The edges of these burns can tell you a lot about deer numbers in the area, hike them during the middle of the day checking for travel lanes / tracks. As well glass unburned areas within larger burns early and late in the day. Mule deer utilize edge cover the same as whitetails.

 

[BRTreedogs]

To many variables, how hot, long, big, what kind of vegetation etc was and is there.
Gotta put boots on ground and check for green.
At minimum if you can't put boots on ground use google earth, look for green and check the time line bar.

 

[idahohikker]

Burns can be productive from year 1 on for a decade plus. This may be a shocker to some as well but there are lots of units with great habitat and almost no burns. The instafamous talk about burns so much that you’ll find two legged company in most.

 

[bjfoxhoven]

I’ve even read about elk wanting to roll around in the ash very soon after the burn for whatever reason. You may be hunting deer but they mag do it too. As soon as that burn starts to green up it should be a great spot though. Pretty amazing the quality of feed that can show up after a burn.

 

[rayporter]

the only burn i watched for a while had a slew of critters being shot while the smoke was still rising and the following year road hunters were having a field day.

 

[Brydawg512]

Interesting to read this thread. Thanks for posting the question!

 

[Jaden Bales]

Was checking out a burn last weekend that was two years old. Burned hot. Most trees are still standing and very dead, so while there's grass underneath, it really didn't open up visibility much. Do the rest of you folks wait for them to start tipping over so you can glass into the burns?

 

[The Ri Guy]

Hard to say what's "best".

Our traditional stomping grounds burned HARD (pic for reference) in the summer of 2014. Good antler growth was observed as soon as 2016, and has seemingly only continued to get better even up through last year.

Do the rest of you folks wait for them to start tipping over so you can glass into the burns?

Not really, the bucks seem to follow their same routines and use the same escape routes as before.

Actually, in retrospect, where I observe the least amount of deer by far is where the trees have fallen or are still falling, it's almost like they're no-go zones to the deer...

 

[Shortstop07]

Up here farmer's burn there fields every year as it replenished nutrients and every year fields are greener than ever and deer are hitting them. If it has a decent amount of rain or snow I would say that first year should be a go

 

[Tmac]

I watched MD walking through a still smoking burn two days after. I was there on day two, suspect they were looking around earlier. Now as far as feed, that will take a bit longer, depending on location, time of year and moisture. Deer do not seem too worried about burnt over landscapes imo, as I bet they know fresh green shoots are often soon to come.

 

[himtnelk]

I'm hunting Utah this year and I am looking at some burns to hunt. I know game are drawn to burns to feed on the new growth, but I'm not really sure what age burns are the best. When does a burn really become productive? 2 years after the fire? 4 years? the year after the fire? School me please.

Great question.

 

[Austink47]

Hunting Burns

Hunting Burns is a stratagy that Jim Carr has been using for years. Find out why he thinks they are very productive and the stratagies he uses.

www.rokslide.com

Don’t know if you have read this yet, but I highly recommend it.

 

[idahohikker]

There's a side of me that thinks at this point the best age for a burn is no burn because the area doesn't get as much attention. While that might seem blasphemous to some, burns are hunter magnets these days and there is awesome habitat that hasn't burned in the last ten years and doesn't show up on the burn maps. Look at some of the highest productivity units in any state, we're talking lots of critters and known for good antler growth, and there will be a few of them with no recent burns. Probably mind blowing for some.

 

[Alaskan]

Hunting Burns

Hunting Burns is a stratagy that Jim Carr has been using for years. Find out why he thinks they are very productive and the stratagies he uses.

www.rokslide.com

Don’t know if you have read this yet, but I highly recommend it.

Gret article!

 

[Jaden Bales]

There's a side of me that thinks at this point the best age for a burn is no burn because the area doesn't get as much attention. While that might seem blasphemous to some, burns are hunter magnets these days and there is awesome habitat that hasn't burned in the last ten years and doesn't show up on the burn maps. Look at some of the highest productivity units in any state, we're talking lots of critters and known for good antler growth, and there will be a few of them with no recent burns. Probably mind blowing for some.

In those pocket-timbered units, I think there's definitely some validity to this. But man, if you're in NW Montana, Northern Idaho, some units in Oregon, thick Colorado units in 2nd season, etc, it'd be kind of hard to find any critters without any disturbance to the forest canopy. How do you find deer in the thicker timber without something like a burn there?

 

[idahohikker]

In those pocket-timbered units, I think there's definitely some validity to this. But man, if you're in NW Montana, Northern Idaho, some units in Oregon, thick Colorado units in 2nd season, etc, it'd be kind of hard to find any critters without any disturbance to the forest canopy. How do you find deer in the thicker timber without something like a burn there?

I hunt all over Idaho but not Northern Idaho where it’s a jungle so there’s almost always some places where I can glass without burns. Agreed that this can be a different deal when you’re talking endless thick timber. In other states that I hunt I try to avoid the crazy thick places as well.

 

[Jaden Bales]

I hunt all over Idaho but not Northern Idaho where it’s a jungle so there’s almost always some places where I can glass without burns. Agreed that this can be a different deal when you’re talking endless thick timber. In other states that I hunt I try to avoid the crazy thick places as well.

Gotcha! I've moved to doing the same thing. I basically pick spots based on glassability now. So many times growing up, we would try to hunt just timber, but inevitably my friends and I would find deer on sagey south slopes or timber clear cuts...unless we just got lucky and saw a buck cross the road from the ATV. Even then, I don't remember ever seeing any killed in the timber like that.

 

[idahohikker]

Gotcha! I've moved to doing the same thing. I basically pick spots based on glassability now. So many times growing up, we would try to hunt just timber, but inevitably my friends and I would find deer on sagey south slopes or timber clear cuts...unless we just got lucky and saw a buck cross the road from the ATV. Even then, I don't remember ever seeing any killed in the timber like that.

That said, if a place is too glassable then you get an age class penalty due to vulnerability. Lots to consider.