Elk tactics after fires

[sf jakey]

Well, last year the place I hunt elk suffered a pretty severe fire on about 75% of the property. It’s about 20k acres, and used to be some great timber and some wonderful pockets. All that is changed now, and the honey holes are pretty wide open burns now. Of course the grass has come back, but the trees, the brush, the cover and the good bedding areas are all nuked. There are still elk on the ranch, and are showing up on game cams, but it is a drastically different place now.
Anybody have experience coming back into an area like this? My experience in open terrain tells me to be very careful, and not pressure the elk for fear of blowing them out. Obviously stands and blinds might be effective, but that’s not really my favorite way to hunt.
I’m just curious to hear other’s experiences and how they changed their approach. Thanks for the therapy!

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Feed, cover, water. We know elk like post burn green up so try to find the closest remaining bedding areas that have water nearby. Sounds like someone on the ranch is keeping tabs and putting out cams so that's your best resource.

 

[shootnrun]

There will be drainages, slopes and pockets that burnt dirty. Elk will use those for sanctuary. Or the edges. If there aren't any, I've also seem them on scorched earth burns just out in the open.. Like plains elk, they'll use the vast space as their defense. Your only option is learning how to navigate the micro terrain

 

[waspocrew]

In the same boat, except my parent's ranch is currently burning. We have a lot of elk that move through between feeding in lower fields then bedding in timber during the day. Bummer to see a ton of great bedding areas completely burned. Not sure how the archery hunt will be in a few weeks, but I'll give it a try. Maybe rifle season will be better, but definitely bummed.