Burns and deer

[Flatlander23]

Curious what y’all’s opinions are on prime burn age for mule deer habitat. Looking for that sweet spot where it creates a nice mix of feeding and cover habitat but hasn’t turned into a birds nest of hellish laydowns. Is it 3-5 years? 5-8?

 

[Hnthrdr]

Depends on the burn, no hard and fast rule. If the fire is too hot it will nuke stuff and it can take the better part of a decade for regen. Example would be high park fire or Hayman fire in Co, there are spots just coming back, also some of the worst blow down you could imagine because of what it burned 15-20 year lodge poles that were incredibly thick in some areas. Parts of Cameron peak fire are the same way. Then there are some fires which never get super hot and the habitat is amazing the very next year. Much of it is you have to get boots on the ground and figure it out yourself for the particular burn.

 

[cnelk]

Ive found that MD like recent logging clearcuts more than burns

 

[Walmart Greeter]

Depends on the region, fuel type, slope, aspect, elevation, position on slope, burn severity, time of year, available seed source, post burn weather, size of area burned, soil composition, post burn activities, etc

 

[mtwarden]

Yeah there is no sweet spot as far as age of fire, too many variables

You can have decent browse species come back, but if there is no cover close by the deer won't be there.

I've also seen large fires absolutely wreak havoc on water sources- browse stuff coming back, but water sources dried up due to fire. This can sometimes be a benefit for the hunter if you happen to find scarce water sources in a sea of no water.

 

[Flatlander23]

Yeah the burn in the unit we usually elk hunt nuked everything. By the time decent forage started coming back the amount of blow down was almost impassible. Now there’s a damn nice 6x6 that lives in one of those wooly canyons and is almost impossible to get to without him knowing you’re coming

 

[Flatlander23]

Ive found that MD like recent logging clearcuts more than burns

Do you use any layers on any of the mapping softwares to find those or just look at satellite imagery and google earth? Or is there a resource on the forest service website?

 

[cnelk]

Do you use any layers on any of the mapping softwares to find those or just look at satellite imagery and google earth? Or is there a resource on the forest service website?

OnX has a 'Timber Cuts' layer under Trees, Crops, & Cover

It will tell you the year it was logged

 

[Flatlander23]

OnX has a 'Timber Cuts' layer under Trees, Crops, & Cover

It will tell you the year it was logged

Awesome. I’ll take a look. Branching out and looking at some new places to put in for. Thanks for all the input. That’s a good little nugget of info

 

[dtrkyman]

The major concentration of deer I found during the late season here were in a small burn from May of 2021 that was within a really large fire from 2013.

This was a January hunt.

Onx shows logging, show's up when zoomed in and labeled timber cuts, then under description commercial harvest, they show up with the date and some angled yellow lines, it is under the trees crops and cover layer.

I agree with above that the fire itself has everything to do with when they come back, as well as moisture after the fire.

 

[roadhntr]

From my experience, 1-5 years has been best in Utah. Usually after 5 years, the area's deer population starts to decline.

 

[Huntnnw]

hard to say, so many variables. Elevation, what sides of the mountain and what type of cover burned., how hot and does area receive lots of moisture.

 

[BRTreedogs]

The problem with burns is ole Uncle Randy talked about it until he was blue in the face.

Now its just a sausage fest of you and 10 of your new hunting buddies.

Not saying I won't look at them at all but the burn thing is pretty well played out.

 

[Hnthrdr]

The problem with burns is ole Uncle Randy talked about it until he was blue in the face.

Now its just a sausage fest of you and 10 of your new hunting buddies.

Not saying I won't look at them at all but the burn thing is pretty well played out.

Not that it was ever a secret, hell, the natives used to start massive fires to have burn scars to hunt, but like come on do we have to spoon feed the massive every since factoid or info on everything?! If there is some free mountain ops and leupold sponsorships out there… I guess so, but remember folks it’s all for conservation for old randini ignore the fact that he is actively making it harder for you to hunt out west

 

[wapitiwilly]

I don't know that there is an easily definable sweet spot. It all depends on the severity of the burn, slope aspect, nutrients and availability of water. I know of some big bucks getting killed in fresh burns.

 

[NMBigGame]

Agree with everyone that it depends. One aspect to consider though, is I've seen lots of tracks in fresh burns. I don't think the deer hang in the burns but they must get some nutrient from the fresh ash. Don't overlook a burn from that year. Best burns are the ones that jump ridges and leave pockets of cover and feed. These hold deer from day one.