I've made a couple scouting trips recently for the late deer season starting Nov 20. What i have observed over the past 10 years or so is for desert type areas 278,272,381,372, and 373 in the Columbia Basin that suffered fire during the dry summer months, either this past summer or from a few years ago, is that there is a progression in the plant life recovery and its effect on deer hunting etc.
Year 1 - Lightening scorches your hunting area a few months before the season starts. The effects are scorched earth. No plant life and thus nothing for the deer to eat and thus NO deer to hunt. Areas that are NOT burned concentrate the deer and/or push them into agriculture areas( private land) and thus CONCENTRATE HUNTERS. Crowded hunting conditions make everyone grumpy.
Year 2- Plant life comes back, but native grasses are crowded by tumble mustard and tumble weeds, IE Russian thistle. Walking through the dry mustard creates A LOT of crunchy noise thus making spot n stalk difficult. Tumble weeds let loose in winds and settle at the base of cliffs on the downwind side. Deer LOVE to bury themselves in some of these tumbleweed piles. Once I found a popular tumbleweed bedding area that I scanned HARD for deer with my binoculars before approaching, satisfied that there were no deer hiding in it. I was amazed and a bit dumbfounded when a half dozen deer popped out as i approached from 60-70 yards.
Year 3- looks to be back to normal? Native grasses are back, somehow all those mustard and tumbleweed seeds did not sprout, the tumbleweed piles have melted from the previous years snow/rain etc. No more bedding down in tumbleweed piles, deer will bed down more out in the open or up tight against basalt cliffs. Normal hunting pressure as there is plenty of area for everyone...hopefully, fingers crossed,...though the reports from early season hunting pressure being high have me pessimistic.
I'm gonna see if I cant get out a couple more times, to get my legs under me and make more observations before the season starts. I'm hoping my areas have gotten enough fall rain to get the winter grasses sprouted. That seems to keep the deer out in the public owned desert areas and out of the lusher, off limits refuges/ag fields.
Anybody else have any observation of fire on your hunting areas be it desert or mountains?
