Hunting Whitetail After a Forest Fire - Hardwoods

[Bud B.]

Anyone hunted the following fall after a winter forest fire?

Anything advantageous about it?

Anything to avoid?

   http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f94/Equismith/Birkhead%20Fire/?albumview=slideshow

[Bud B.]

Even after a forest fire, life emerges.

 

[WJackson11x]

Should be a lot of new, green growth by deer season.  We are about to burn a good portion of our tract to clear out some areas.  It shouldn't affect the acorn crop either.  Good luck.

[lpcjon2]

Thats the best time to hunt that area,put up a blind and let it be.Deer will be all over that are due to the new growth.

[rice]

My landowner burns the whole ranch every other year, forest and all. Mature oaks it does not seem to hurt much. Understory species like winged elm and sumac and greenbrier are all burnd back, but resprout during the following summer making for great low growing deer browse. Also see a lot of native grasses and forbes post fire.
These are relatively cool fires.
If the "forest' fire was wild and hot, and resulted in a crown fire it would damage the oaks and possibly kill them. Even then like previously mentioned life would soon return.

The controled burns on the ranch are a good thing for whitetail browse, and we see no reduction in acorn production due to the fires.

Chris

[Bud B.]

If you view the slideshow there's one photo of some briars. I would think that might create some forage for them in early season. There are oaks galore in there. There are still acorns everywhere that squirrels have been chewing up.

[Bud B.]

This burn was unplanned and unexplained. No lightning in the area. Maybe a hiker's cigarette or a careless campfire.

This is the Uwharrie National Forest Birkhead Wilderness Area. Roughly 73 acres burned before the Forest Service got it out with the fire break lines they cleared. Some fire breaks are seen in the photos.

[gringol]

I've seen a lot of deer forage in burned out areas.  I've even seen them foraging while the fire is still smoldering.  I've heard they will eat charcoal (anyone know about that?) and I know they like the green shoots that sprout later on.  Generally I've seen them in these areas when it's dark, probably because they are bedding in cover and need to travel a good distance to reach those areas.  If you can find a good spot to set up it seems like a decent strategy.  It might be a good area for years afterwards, too.  One of the most active spots I know here in FL is an old logging tract.  It's really brushy, so it's hard to hunt, but the deer love the young, low trees and shrubs.

[killinstuff]

Forests fires are natures way. They are supposed to happen for the good of the environment. Man to often gets in the way and screws things up like we know more than mother nature.

[Geezer]

Around these parts deer densities increase considerably in a new-growth forest.  Its all about providing the proper age class of food and new growth will really suck them in.  Deer body weights will proportionally increase for several years until shrubs reach a mid, or older seral class then start to taper off.  Find a trail leading from thermal cover to the new growth and set a stand there.

[gregg dudley]

It really depends on how hot the fire burned. If it burned through relatively quickly and itwas a low fire then prepare your skinning knives now. On the other hand if it burned slow and hot and burned up into the crown of the mature trees then that area is going to take a while to recover.

[Bud B.]

Overall it was a quick fire with a few hot spots. I think the smaller growth less than 2" diameter trees might die out. Some of the larger trees with partially dead bases will likely die out too. Some looked like they smoldered for several days.

I searched for trails today but only found a few and they looked sparsely used.

[T Lail]

Bud, in my experiances, get your frying pan ready......it is kinda like hunting a first year clear cut,new growth will be everywhere.....like some said before, set up a few blinds if possible and get ready....  

[bretto]

I don't know about North Carolina but around here You can't hardly run the Turkeys off of a newly burned area.

They like to dust in the ashes. Plus they like the open area created. should have plenty of new growth by spring. Don't wait til fall to check it out. Good luck.

bretto

[meathead]

Don't forget to go look for morels this spring.

[Hoyt]

The best spot I ever hunted was up a tall pine tree that I could look down into a myrtle thicket so thick a human could not walk through it. You had to crawl to get in it. It was in South Central Florida and the thicket was between two cypress heads. The deer would travel through it on one trail they had right in the middle that went from one head to the other.

When I got up high in the tall pine I could see down into it just enough to see the deer in little openings along their trail, but couldn't see them long enough to get a shot.

It was public land and the state burnt that area one yr. and the myrtle thicket burnt out. The deer acted like they didn't realize they could be seen and still walked the trail. I killed some real good bucks off that trail that yr.

Turkeys go to a fresh burn even better than deer.

[Bud B.]

Originally posted by meathead:
Don't forget to go look for morels this spring.

Good tip.


I'll be back as much as possible for scouting. The trailhead for this area is about a mile down my road. Very convenient!