Could those of you who know a little about Colorado ...

[AtownBcat]

I realize the loss of property is more important than my first ever elk hunt in October. But have/will the fires effected unit 81? It is in the allemesa(sp) area? How do fires once they are put out effect the coming hunting season? Do the animals move back in quickly or does it take so time? I realize no two time are exactly the same but as a rule of thumb what has been your experience?

 

[WildRose]

I realize the loss of property is more important than my first ever elk hunt in October. But have/will the fires effected unit 81? It is in the allemesa(sp) area? How do fires once they are put out effect the coming hunting season? Do the animals move back in quickly or does it take so time? I realize no two time are exactly the same but as a rule of thumb what has been your experience?

Alamosa is 165 MI from Colorado Springs.

I haven't heard of any fires in that area but I'm not really keeping up with it.

You could call the Colorado Dept of F&G and find out.

 

[WildRose]

I did a little more digging for you. Here is an interactive map of the current fires burning in CO.

Google Crisis Map

There are two burning west of Alamosa on either side of Durango.

As for when game returns to a burned area, that depends primarily on rainfall. Adequate rainfall would mean they'd head back pretty quickly because the new growth after a fire is extremely lush given engh rain.

 

[4bycamper]

Not to be argumentative....

But, don't count on a lot of rain in Colorado. Count on mountain snow in January.
Count on 305 days of sunshine per year. Count on great camping and hunting, but rain?? not so much. The typical western thunderstorm is lots of wind and no water.

That said, we didn't get our elk tags in the draw this year and I'm waiting to pick a leftover license when I know which areas have burned. I'm not counting on rapid re population in the burned areas. I want to hunt as far from them as I can.

 

[WildRose]

Not to be argumentative....

But, don't count on a lot of rain in Colorado. Count on mountain snow in January.
Count on 305 days of sunshine per year. Count on great camping and hunting, but rain?? not so much. The typical western thunderstorm is lots of wind and no water.

That said, we didn't get our elk tags in the draw this year and I'm waiting to pick a leftover license when I know which areas have burned. I'm not counting on rapid re population in the burned areas. I want to hunt as far from them as I can.

That is why I couched it with "if".

Also he's talking about the western side which gets a lot more pop up storms in the summer vs eastern CO.

Elevations around there range from 7,500-15,000ft which makes for a lot of uplift in the atmosphere.

 

[jackem]

AtownBcat, I live in Grand Jct, CO and am just back from a trip across the state. We drove through the Pine Ridge fire area and I believe that it will be a year or more before the habitat recovers enough to entice game back into that burn area.

Your GMU is good so far but be watching the map that WildRose sent as the summer progresses. If a fire breaks out I doubt that it would encompass the whole unit so it could narrow down the areas to hunt within the unit.

On the trip we went to Rocky Mountain Park and over some passes to get there. Right now the game are holding out at very high altitude where it is still moist and green. The lower elevations are at the biggest risk of fire and where the fires have been so far.

Feel free to contact me later this summer for any updates that I may be able to offer.

Jack

 

[silvertip-co]

No fires in 81. Better not be or ten guys off the realtree.com forum gonna be awful disappointed. Me too. It takes only til new growth begins for the game to move back in. One season. And it's spelled A l a m o s a. COldest darn place in COlo.

 

[TOM H]

I realize the loss of property is more important than my first ever elk hunt in October. But have/will the fires effected unit 81? It is in the allemesa(sp) area? How do fires once they are put out effect the coming hunting season? Do the animals move back in quickly or does it take so time? I realize no two time are exactly the same but as a rule of thumb what has been your experience?

As 4bycamper mention mountain here are pretty dry very little snow pack this year very little run off and with all the down timber from the beetle kill lot of fuel for the fires. I live east of I-25 @ 7670ft elevation and were use to afternoon showers and were dry and ours is from lack of rain vs what the mountain get. We had good late snow and rain and last night got a good shower so who know

Unit 81 I suspect is pretty dry like the rest of the mountains at least part of it is as that unit has good mix of private,BLM,National Forest and it has part of the San Juan Wilderness in that unit. I guess on the draw tags if you get a bull tag it includes unit 80 plus they got these private land cow tags unit 81 from Sept 1 to Jan 31 and I'm sure those land owners get good lease price on the hunting right for bulls. they had some late cow hunts down there (San Luis Valley) trying to thin the herds north of Alamosa and Monte Vista most of the locals get those tags last few years. the west boundary of unit 81 is the east side of Continental Divide and on west side of the Divide the Southern Ute Reservation back up to unit 81 in places. If there fire high up I would thing the elk move lower winter grounds in unit 81/80 the mtn go from mid 12K down to 7800ft appr.

I'm sure guys who drew bull tag and the units has burned might be turning them in and buy OTC for unit they can hunt or watch left over list. hard to figure when they come back after a burn. In the unit I hunt I've seen bad snow pack for couple years some elk just stay low and not go back up high. Well good luck on you hunt hope you get a big one

 

[4bycamper]

And it's spelled A l a m o s a. COldest darn place in COlo.

I thought that was Fraser.