I'm in a much different boat in that my hunt doesn't start until Oct 23. Archery guys had herds located and bulls on a list whereas I was basically scouting areas that looked promising post rut, not looking for elk at all.
The fire very well could be still going at some level, but I don't expect the access to be nearly as bad and hopefully the smoke has settled a bunch as well. Several really good dudes here have helped me think through what plan B looks like and I have spent many hours desk scouting and should get at least one scouting trip in before the season starts.
I have no idea how the fire will change it up, my guess is that the food in the burn is pretty much gone. One question I have is what the fringe areas between the burn and not burn look like and how much of the growth was actually burned out? One longshot would be to use the burn area to hike into previously gnarly areas that were too thick before. That assumes the bigger trees are still intact and not going to create a huge safety risk.
The way the fire burned, I would be reservedly excited to be in 653 as it may have pushed a ton of animals up over the PCT and into that unit.
Who knows, only one way to find out. I do know that area will rock in 2-3 years for all big game. Should be a total game changer in some of those drainages if you end up being able to see further than 10 yards in any direction.
