Mule Deer and Fire Activity

[MLHSN]

I'm curious what the experts know?

How does wildfire activity affect mule deer migration when a large area of their migration route is burning?

When they do migrate, do they shoot straight through the burn area or go around?

What about when their winter range has burned?

Will they hold up high when there is late fire season activity?

Any reading recommendations on the subject?

 

[RockAndSage]

Not an expert, but always come back to the foundational basics: food, shade, security. They're just not going to be in an area with no food. However, burns (especially in timbered areas), are particularly good for food growth for mule deer, with that ground cleared of brush and the sky cleared of canopy. Burns and logging cuts are generally the first places I look for when hunting timber.

There will be a bunch of threads that will come up if you run a search here for things like "burns", packed full of guys' personal experience killing muleys in burns.

 

[Lowell]

Not an expert, but always come back to the foundational basics: food, shade, security. They're just not going to be in an area with no food. However, burns (especially in timbered areas), are particularly good for food growth for mule deer, with that ground cleared of brush and the sky cleared of canopy. Burns and logging cuts are generally the first places I look for when hunting timber.

There will be a bunch of threads that will come up if you run a search here for things like "burns", packed full of guys' personal experience killing muleys in burns.

There you go. Agree

 

[spals]

If your question is regarding activity during the burn, not in years after, then I think there are a lot of factors. How intense is the burn? How much human activity is present fighting the fire?

If the fire leaves plenty of cover and food, and the area is closed to entrance (hikers/hunters/etc.), then I could see them sidestepping the fire and returning to their normal pattern while enjoying fattening up for the winter without human disturbance. If the fire was very intense I could see it pushing them in whichever direction they have to go to avoid being burned alive.

After they're moved from their normal pattern I'm not sure what they would do. Would a lot of them try to return to their normal migration pattern and die off due to lack of nutrition during the migration? Would some of them figure out new routes or new winter ranges? I'm not sure of any research into this, but it's an interesting question.