burns and clearcuts

[outdooraddict]

I have been reading a lot of information about burns and how they seem to attract animals sometimes.  it doesn't take very long on this site to believe that talk either.  What about clear-cuts.  I hunt some areas that get "moonscaped"  I think the moon might actually have more vegetation after they are done logging the area.  should these clear-cuts be "paid attention too" or does the burn have a different affect do to the new vegetation growth etc.  I have noticed the clear cuts get new growth too, but in a matter of a couple years, its so thick with viney maple, mt leaf mohagany, and F*&% alders (as we call them) that you would have better luck with fixed bayonets rather than a rifle.  so I guess what I'm asking is compare a burn to a clear cut and how do you hunt/treat each one, timeline etc

[Pathfinder101]

IMHO burns will always be more productive than CCs.  When a forest burns it distributes the  seeds for regrowth and the forest seems to grow back more naturally, starting with ground cover.  I do see a lot of deer and elk feeding in clear cuts though, so I know you get some of the same effect.
Regarding burns, they usually start to "get good" the second year after the burn, better the 3rd year and them remain pretty good for several years after that.  Deer are browse animals that eat the soft nubby ends of brush.  It provides them with protein and is the healthiest food for them.  Those new 3 and 4 year old bushes that spring up after a burn seem to attract the most animals.

[fishnfur]

Interesting topic.  My (westside) take on it would be that a hot fire essentially sterilizes the soil.  The regrowth likely occurs from windblown seed sources outside the burn and from heat tolerant seed sources already in place. I'll defer to your observations that this process occurs as a slower regrowth of successive species (than clearcutting).

Clearcutting on the other hand, removes virtually all the large vegetation, but leaves small brush intact, or cuts it down to a lower level, often without killing it.  Regrowth of that brush in full sunlight happens very quickly unless the unit is treated with herbicide to remove the remaining vegetation not killed by clearcutting.  F*&% alders are a notorious early seral species that are particularly adept at growing well in disturbed soils (such as clearcuts) and capturing and dominating a site faster than other slower growing species.

The effect is the similar in both cases, but happens at a much faster rate in clearcuts.

(disclaimer:  some or all of this information may be completely wrong.)

[PolarBear]

Our best years hunting the 101 was started 2-3 years after that fire burned across Sherman Pass and that whole area.  We had awesome hunting with good quality animals for about 4 years in a row, until the word got out through a magazine and all the city folk ruined it.   

[Tracker0721]

OnX maps has an article about hunting burns. They claim the burn actually deposits the nutrients in the ash back to the ground and it turns into the grasses and small plants that can grow quickly. Also it says it’s the thickets on the edges of these burns that will hold the animals. I always thought the islands left inside would be good. Apparently a lot of other guys did too because there was a lot of Orange in the stickpin burned area last year!

[Billy Fudd]

State and private forestry spray new clearcuts leaving them devoid of vegetation for the  first few years.  Fire can burn soil hot enough to damage it.  But its alot more infrequent than you would think.  I recently had a large fire near my house.  Within a couple weeks the ceanothus started sprouting.

[fishnfur]

I believe forest fires out near the coast are considered a once in a thousand year event.  That may have changed with climate change models.  If we didn't clearcut occasionally out there, the deer populations would probably drop by 80%.

[Billy Fudd]

I agree with you