Late Entiat 2012

[huntnphool]

 I feel sorry for the guys that finaly drew their late Entiat tags, the fires in there right now are going through Mud, Oklahoma, Crum, Byers and Johnson Creek. I'm betting a good number of the deer get pushed over to Swakane to winter.

[Rainier10]

How many acres have burned?  Do they think they will get them contained?

[UBA]

Lots of fire spread out from Entiat most all the way to Chelan along the columbia. All of it Winter range. The Entiat River side is doing pretty good as of right now. Although that could change. Still some land here and there that hasnt burned along the columbia.

[benhuntin]

Maybe it will push them to the chiwawa .  My son has the late tag

[UBA]

i bet it has little effect on the migration but once they get there they are going to realize there isnt anything to eat. I didnt get an opportunity to get a good look but it appears to be some decent pocket of feed that survived.

[Hoythunter]

The fire will generate some serious opportunity in the years to follow with all the new growth. 

[golfguy0912]

I have on of the late tags, and am not worried. The fire is burning in the old tyee burn, so its mainly grass and brush. Its not hot enough to get the trees going. As of about 5pm tonight the most activity was burning in knapps coulee towards chelan which has more private land.

The south end of it had some activity earlier in the day, but after noon tailed off and it picked up near the highway and river, once again on areas permit holders don't hunt

As I drove through the area, oklahoma gulch which burned yesterday, wasn't really even smoking anymore. Heck there are lots of un burned sections of grass. That's one nice thing with a fire burning in an area that has already burned.

Plus with the byrd canyon fire, I bet half of the area burned is either canyons blocked by private lan, on private land, or near highways

[Rainier10]

If the fire is in grassy areas and moving fast with the wind hopefully it will recover quickly.  I was at my cabin this weekend and drove through the Taylor Bridge fire footprint along 97 and was shocked to see green grass coming back in already.  Let's hope for containment soon and a quick recovery of the area.

[WAmuleyHunter]

The fire is really laying down right now, its low 50's up there with the wind not blowing as bad.  the fire is over 7,000 acres.  Not a lot of fire guys up there.  its burned down to ribbon cliff orchards, all the way past the tunnel. Johnson creek area on top, into mud, and the head of crum/byers is all burned.  im not sure have far west from byers it is.  For us in the entiat area the wind direction most of the day was north east so that helped us, but did not help the guys on the other side.  Most of the deer fence is burned in that section now, they are just letting it burn to the highway. Lots of gorgeous bitterbrush burned.

[rosscrazyelk]

 

[ACCUBOND]

 

[UBA]

If it gets to the head of first creek its going to get crazy.

[golfguy0912]

If it gets to the head of first creek its going to get crazy.

yeah from lake chelan up to Stormy has a lot of un burned timber. It could really get bad if it gets the chance to take off

[muleracks2]

The Entiat could get even worse if the Tommy Creek and Pugh Ridge fires heat up.  The entire Entiat could go up again like it did in 70 and 94.  The aftermath sure produced some great browse and bucks with monster racks.

Too bad the upper valley fires caused the Entiat River Road to be closed ; no High Hunt up river this season.  Those fires will go out when we get two feet of snow or 4 inches of rain.

[Benny]

Too bad the upper valley fires caused the Entiat River Road to be closed ; no High Hunt up river this season. 

Wow, that's too bad for the fellas going up there. Are you having to cancel all the drop camps?

[400out]

I think it will go the other way! Be good hunting this year if there is good snow fall before the late tags  But the deer will suffer BAD   

[gasman]

Came back yesterday and it has yet to get down Mud Creek. Its on the hill tops above and moving down slowly but they started sending the heli and tanker to drop water and fire retardant on it to slow the movement while they punched in a road at Wilkeson Canyon.
They had a team up there fighting the blaze above Bisping Canyon to protect the homes down there.

If it hits the bottom of Mud Creek, it will get ugly fast 

[muleracks2]

Benny,  It is too bad for the High Hunters.  Many of them plan all year for 10 days in the Wilderness.  As for Icicle Outfitters, they have two camps already in and we hope they get to stay.  All of the others have moved into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Henry M Jackson and the Chiwawa River part of the Glacier Peak Wilderness (GMUs 249, 245 and 244).  Some will probably "fall in love" with those new spots and return next year while others will go back into the Entiat in 2013.

[Benny]

Well that's just great for those of us who don't hunt the Entiat

Hope you have a good season and are able to move everyone around safely.

[muleracks2]

Benny,  Hope none of our camps are "parked on top of you".  The two camps we do have in the Entiat are being brought back out this on Sunday (FS orders).  A one day opener with no other hunters around but they were expecting a 7 to 10 day hunt; bummer.

[Wahunter555]

Yea I was Up Entiant for opening came in on Friday and could not see anything it was so smoky you could not see ten feet in front of you . then Saturday it did clear up  but could not get up on mud creek  Sucks .  I was hoping to get a lot of hunting in this weekend.  now have to find new place for general Season . AHHHHHH

[quadrafire]

Just curious.... Do you guys think the smoke effects the deer at all in these regions? Assuming no immediate fire danger. ie. will they migrate away from the smoke?

[muleracks2]

I think the deer are so locked into their migration route and winter range spots that they just go there.  Once there, they probably move around a bit to find food and shelter but I bet they stay pretty close to "home".  I would hunt unburned spots within the normal winter range plus the edges of the burns.   I would expect many roads to remain closed this October and November so a little hike might be required.

[golfguy0912]

one nice thing that is becoming apparent is that most people think this fire burned hot and did some damage. It didnt. I have been through most of it, and hardly any trees have burned. The fire just moved through the brush, sometimes not even burning the sagebrush.

I dont doubt that till we get a good rain storm through here and corral the western edge of the First Creek Fire and the southern part of the Klone and Pyramid Fire, there will be some road closures. I dont see the lower part of the Entiat (south of Stormy Creek) being opened up till about the first of November.

[muleracks2]

The Entiat was closed on the 12th so we only had two camps in the Entiat by then.  We packed on camp out and relocated them in the Alpine unit.  The other drop camp refused to come out even though the Forest Service told them to and we went in with a pack string to get them.   Be interesting to see how that plays out.  Only camp in the Chiwawa that had to come out early is located near the Basalt Ridge fire.  Everyone else is able to stay put for now.  The Chiwawa was not closed until the 15th so most hunters were already in.  The Eightmile part of the Alpine unit is also closed because of the Cashmere Mtn fire.

[et1702]

Any more info on this topic.  I too have a late Archery tag and wonder how much of the low lands (i.e., winter range) burned up.  Now that the rains have hit, I'm sure the fires are mostly out.  Just wondering how the roads are faring with recent heavy rains.  Any slides closing roads?

Thanks,

ET

[gasman]

the only area closed is that area between Mud Creek and hwy 97A.
From Mud Creek to the NW is open.

[YoterHunter]

they haven't got the rain like the west side did. over the weekend. just enough to cut the dust.