Fires in Western Montana affect your hunt this year?

[Naphtali]

Are the forest fires in Missoula County going to affect your hunt this year?

Last night I would have said hunting is finished: Seeley Lake and its surround was like Poland in September 1939 and the air was foul. And I understand the Bitterroot Valley near Darby-Hamilton is in a similar situation.

What this will do to area hunting I could only guess, but what is burning is hunting territory, prime hunting territory.

But this morning much of the smoke and haze in Seeley is gone, Kine-ahora.

[rbbhunt]

You may be suprised.  After the fire is out and the air clears a liitle, there will probably be a lot of new growth starting and the hunting may actually be real good.  A fire came through one place I lived in the country and days later it was green.

[Naphtali]

rbbhunt: I hope you're right. Whitetail held a sleep-over in my backyard last night. My lawn is shaggy. This morning most of the fence-in portion was flattened. From the amount of change, I'd estimate more than 30.

A big concern is whether the town'll be burned out. My freezer doesn't work well when in that condition. Oh well, since worrying won't help, I won't bother. But I do wonder what the folks who have been attending meetings at the elementary school have been discussing. Seems to me to be like King Canute ordering the tide not to come in.

[the Ferret]

I hear where we cat hunted by Rock Creek is toast.

[Mike Orton]

Does anyone know how the Beaverhead National forest is fairing?  Particularly the area west of North Fork, ID

[Naphtali]

I can't furnish useful information about Rock Creek. It's quite a ways from me.

The [from the] west wind has picked up substantially -- not good. I figure if the fire break holds today,  . . .

[bowfiend]

Rock creek's getting hammered pretty good by the "sawmill complex" and the"124" fire. My friend got evacuated from seeley on saturday night, and that fire is burning fast through a lot of blowdown and ground fuels.

This time of year there's just no moisture until the snow comes. Those burned areas will have new growth in the spring, but not before.

I'm watching one fire pretty closely because it's adjacent to where I want to hunt this year. One thing to keep in mind is where the animals will move. If you can predict that you can walk into some good luck.

[Killdeer]

Completely off topic, Naphtali, you have given me a ton of stuff to research! Yiddish idioms, legends, Biblical references and the like...wish I spoke German.
I don't know whether to thank you or slug ya!    

Killdeer  

[wapiti]

Well we dodged a HUGE bullet today. Kudos to the wildfire fire fighters. They saved the Tin Cup Lodge.My wife and I are the managers. We are forever grateful to them for the effort to divert the fire. Tons of retardent were dumped on the ridge above the lodge and 1000's and 1000's of gallons of water. They brought heavy equipment through our place and worked like hell with hand crews too. They were very polite and professional as well as the Ravalli County Sheriffs dept. Thank you Thank You Thank You!.

 I just won't be able to hunt so close to home. Have to look to the next ridge. Oh so small an issue as to what could have been.

[Naphtali]

Good news, Wapiti. And, here, too. I saw the sky this morning. All of Double Arrow is now evacuated (except for a friend of mine who will not leave her home). The fire line is less than a mile south of Boy Scout Road (the contingency line aka "last resort"). But the sky came out to play.

Killdeer: Remember what Molly told McGee about the closet? Kine-ahora literally means: do not cast the evil eye at you. It has essentially the same meaning as "knock on wood" but sounds more interesting. It is pronounced -- kinn-uh-har-uh, with accents on "kinn" and "har."

Aren't trad archers more intelligent, more literate, with a more perceptive sense of humor than most people? It's a rule, or perhaps genetic, for shooting a trad bow. Don't people who use only Buck Rogers Personal Model bows wear narrow ties and white button-down shirts?

[wahoo]

The Salmon forest west of North fork is fine but there is also alot of fires so it is really on a day to day basis I think. Very smokey but we seem to break out during the day and then get more smoke in the evening.Sorry bout Seeley lake hope everybody stays save- good mushroomin in 08. Very dry and restrictions everywhere so if you are coming to Idaho or Mont. you may want to ck with the forest service. I also think there is a fire trying to sneek over from the Bitterroot but is being watched. Good luck

[Naphtali]

Hog jowls!

Thunder -- that is, LIGHTNING -- storm last night. About two minutes of rain with a bazillion lightning strikes. I'll find out whether any fire, new or existing, broke a containment line later today.

[JockC]

Pretty grim around here.  FWP closed many rivers the earliest in history, and fuel moisture levels got very low very early.  Lots of opportunity for wind and more strikes until things cool down and get moister in September--assuming that happens on schedule, which hasn't been a good assumption this year.

Not to be pessimistic, but it's conceivable that the agencies will close public lands to hunting for the first part of the season.  That has happened before.

I may have this wrong, but I think I saw where fires this year had already cost the state $24M in firefighting alone.

[wahoo]

The main Salmon below Corn creek is closed. High winds this afternoon. Fire in Challis area looks like it blew up a couple days ago. Pray for snow

[Frank V]

We're all praying over here. Frank

[jon]

High guys,

Back on line after a month(Took Blackfoot 3 weeks to get my phone line in). Just moved to Montana from Florida to get away from the heat. Didn't know I was coming into the worst heat wave in Montana recorded history. The owner here is a fireman. I've seen him once in the 3.5 weeks since I got here. He thinks that they will be going to stage 3 restrictions shortly which will essentially shut down bow season.
Anyway, looking for Montana tradgangers in the Alberton/Frenchtown area. Anyone near here? I'm renting a place in the Petty Creek valley and getting ready to build in Frenchtown. Don't mean to hijack the post, just see a lot of Montana tradgangers responding.

Jon

[Naphtali]

Mostly good news here.

Six new fires, courtesy of the storm, around Seeley Lake. Four were put out. Remaining two are north and east, not near the Boy Scout Road contingency line. Numerous "spotting" (fires of a very few trees), all of which were put out.

The Boy Scout Road contingency line held against high, erratic winds. While the fire will burn for several weeks -- incident commander reports he expects fires around Seeley Lakes to last through September -- apparently, the town will not burn. Residents are being allowed to return to Double Arrow and parts of Placid Lake. However, they are under a 90-minute evacuation order.
***
Jon: On the map, we are fairly close. By road, not so close.

[Brian Krebs]

Its smokey here! I sure hope you Montana guys went out and pushed the elk to safety-- over the divide  

[Brian Krebs]

there was a real increase in wind speed today; and the fires all over took off. I was in North Fork ( its not a town- a location with a post office) and visibility was about a quarter mile.
 I mean a quarter mile.                      
                           
 Its really bad; the Darby fires are out of control ( according to the firefighters that stopped by) and the fires (2) near Wisdom Montana blew up too.                        
                                       
 One 'furiner' ( out of stater ) stopped and asked what was going on. He was astonished. He had just driven over from Missoula; and he said there are burned areas with the remains of cabins all over the place. He was kind of in shock.                                    
                                           
 They are talking about level 3 - which can close the forest down. That last happened here that I remember in 2000; and everyone here (keep in mind that means just a few people) is saying that this year is worse than 2000.
                                         
                     
The fires 'down river' - west from North Fork are not expected to be controlled at all until late October or early November.
                                 
  It hasn't really rained here( a sprinkle now and then) since May.

  If the smoke is addictive: we all are going to need rehab.

[Naphtali]

Unfortunately, all areas of Seeley Lake where evacuated residents had been allowed to return (under 90-minute re-evacuation order) evacuated again yesterday afternoon.

Smoke haze has been severe for 24 hours. Gee, what should I expect? Wind is from the south. Fire is in the south. Duh!