Wildfires

[Bridgerland]

Getting ready for the Nevada muzzleloader season and have had an eye on a wildfire that recently burned through my unit. The spot I've had in mind to hunt is almost exactly 2 miles from the border of the burn scar. It's mid to high elevation hills (7-9K) with deep creek ravines running through the bottom. Bare south faces, aspen/sage north faces.

This is a new concept for me to be planning around a recent fire and trying to determine whether or not this could have displaced deer in my target area. Here's a couple questions to the group if there's any of you who have dealt with this in the past:

-How close to the perimeter of a fire do the deer start to feel pressure and move out of the area?

-What kind of a dynamic is created when deer and other game move into an unburned area in order to escape the fire? I have been wondering if my target buck(s) could possibly be pushed out if elk or other deer move into their core area.

 

[Customweld]

Getting ready for the Nevada muzzleloader season and have had an eye on a wildfire that recently burned through my unit. The spot I've had in mind to hunt is almost exactly 2 miles from the border of the burn scar. It's mid to high elevation hills (7-9K) with deep creek ravines running through the bottom. Bare south faces, aspen/sage north faces.

This is a new concept for me to be planning around a recent fire and trying to determine whether or not this could have displaced deer in my target area. Here's a couple questions to the group if there's any of you who have dealt with this in the past:

-How close to the perimeter of a fire do the deer start to feel pressure and move out of the area?

-What kind of a dynamic is created when deer and other game move into an unburned area in order to escape the fire? I have been wondering if my target buck(s) could possibly be pushed out if elk or other deer move into their core area.

I've seen them in a burn that's still smoldering. A lot has to do with the intensity of the fire. If you are 2 miles from the perimeter, I wouldn't expect much impact.

 

[RockAndSage]

What'll displace them is a lack of food and especially a lack of shade, so a lot depends on the intensity of the fire and what it did to the foliage. About the only time I've seen deer just clear out of an area though, is if a cougar moves in, or a fire has burned dense sage right down to bare mineral earth. But if food and shelter remain, they'll be back after the flames are gone.

Something to keep in mind about Nevada, is that the carrying capacity is low - so any place you find that has deer would probably have had deer whether there was a fire or not. Might you get a little lucky and find a few extra in that same spot? Sure. But it's very unlikely there will be deer there that wouldn't have been there were it not for that fire.

 

[270Hunter]

In my experience deer will move around the fire while it is active, but when they don’t perceive anymore threat or danger from the fire they move right back into their areas, especially if that’s where these big bucks feel safe. I killed a big buck in a desert burn a few years ago and it looked like the moon out there but he felt safe out there still because that was his area. There was country less than 2 miles away that wasn’t burnt and was covered in sage and junipers, but him and his running buddy, which happened to be another big 4 point stayed in the burn.

Don’t overlook those moonscape looking burns, I’m not saying that all deer will flock to them. But these big bucks felt safe there for a reason so that reason might make them stay there even if it is burnt. He had to travel for feed but I think he was ok with doing that for the feeling of safety/comfort in an area he knew. I attached this picture so you could see the ground, all of the sage and bitter brush was gone.

 

[Customweld]

In my experience deer will move around the fire while it is active, but when they don’t perceive anymore threat or danger from the fire they move right back into their areas, especially if that’s where these big bucks feel safe. I killed a big buck in a desert burn a few years ago and it looked like the moon out there but he felt safe out there still because that was his area. There was country less than 2 miles away that wasn’t burnt and was covered in sage and junipers, but him and his running buddy, which happened to be another big 4 point stayed in the burn.

Don’t overlook those moonscape looking burns, I’m not saying that all deer will flock to them. But these big bucks felt safe there for a reason so that reason might make them stay there even if it is burnt. He had to travel for feed but I think he was ok with doing that for the feeling of safety/comfort in an area he knew. I attached this picture so you could see the ground, all of the sage and bitter brush was gone. View attachment 934095

I love the look of this buck! You posted this picture awhile ago and I don't think I commented on it.

 

[270Hunter]

I love the look of this buck! You posted this picture awhile ago and I don't think I commented on it.

Thank you I really appreciate that! He definitely had an awesome look with his dark black antlers, while I was scouting/hunting him after he rubbed his velvet I nicknamed him black Bart haha

 

[IdahoBeav]

-How close to the perimeter of a fire do the deer start to feel pressure and move out of the area?

I've seen mule deer calmly grazing with a burning wildfire a couple hundred yards away.

 

[RockAndSage]

In my experience deer will move around the fire while it is active, but when they don’t perceive anymore threat or danger from the fire they move right back into their areas, especially if that’s where these big bucks feel safe. I killed a big buck in a desert burn a few years ago and it looked like the moon out there but he felt safe out there still because that was his area. There was country less than 2 miles away that wasn’t burnt and was covered in sage and junipers, but him and his running buddy, which happened to be another big 4 point stayed in the burn.

Don’t overlook those moonscape looking burns, I’m not saying that all deer will flock to them. But these big bucks felt safe there for a reason so that reason might make them stay there even if it is burnt. He had to travel for feed but I think he was ok with doing that for the feeling of safety/comfort in an area he knew. I attached this picture so you could see the ground, all of the sage and bitter brush was gone. View attachment 934095

Man, cool hunt, and great buck.

The only thing I'd bring up, is that the smoke/overcast and time of day might have had a big role to play in him still being there. It' might have been a very different story if everything was sunny, hot, and mid-day.

 

[Customweld]

I love the look of this buck! You posted this picture awhile ago and I don't think I commented on it.

Those chocolate horns and the blonde forehead really make for a beautiful buck.

 

[270Hunter]

Man, cool hunt, and great buck.

The only thing I'd bring up, is that the smoke/overcast and time of day might have had a big role to play in him still being there. It' might have been a very different story if everything was sunny, hot, and mid-day.

That’s a great point! I actually missed him with my rifle the day before and I can’t remember what the conditions were. But I do remember in the mid day I couldn’t find these bucks for the life of me. I found other bucks tucked up in the lava rock formations in the shade but I couldn’t find the big bucks.

 

[RockAndSage]

That’s a great point! I actually missed him with my rifle the day before and I can’t remember what the conditions were. But I do remember in the mid day I couldn’t find these bucks for the life of me. I found other bucks tucked up in the lava rock formations in the shade but I couldn’t find the big bucks.

Still, that says a lot about hunting fresh desert burns, that you found a bunch of other bucks had all stayed put, but in the nearest shade, tucked up under rock formations. Great info.

 

[270Hunter]

Still, that says a lot about hunting fresh desert burns, that you found a bunch of other bucks had all stayed put, but in the nearest shade, tucked up under rock formations. Great info.

Oh yeah totally! So when i actually glassed this buck up the day I killed him, it was maybe an hour into shooting light, and he was bedded down in a depression of rocks. I spotted his head and antlers, then I snuck around him and got on a bigger rock formation and shot him while he was bedded down. He got up and went a little ways and then died. But I think when these bucks are in a burn like this they seek out cover/shade and the only cover that was left were the rock formations.