region 5 hunting season 2017

[horshur]

One thing after this is all said and done, and people have returned home to a back to normal lifestyle...or...
should I say, as normal a lifestyle as possible....is...
Are the forestry companies going to want to come in and start "replanting"??
I hope not...IMO..I hope it grows up in the natural state that mother nature intended it to.
That is where human intervention could screw this all up....IMO

after 03 there was grant money for replanting..regen survey showed not needed. Not sure how the grant money was spent but it wasn't on planting.

[Golddust]

One thing after this is all said and done, and people have returned home to a back to normal lifestyle...or...
should I say, as normal a lifestyle as possible....is...
Are the forestry companies going to want to come in and start "replanting"??
I hope not...IMO..I hope it grows up in the natural state that mother nature intended it to.
That is where human intervention could screw this all up....IMO

Agreed. Many of the potential benefits that everyone has mentioned will be lost if we go in and plant...

[HarryToolips]

I think alot of guys are getting caught up on the benefits of the fires years down the road. Yes, absolutely the fire creates new growth and with that new growth comes an immense ammount of forrage. The problem is that there has been no seed dispersal into these areas. It's mid-late summer all the plants have stopped their reproductive means except for a few weeds. These fires are occuring in important wintering ranges. We're also coming off a winter that was quite harsh. These animals have been stressed for close to a year now and with the lack of forage made available by the fire there is a good chance they will be stressed for close to 18 months. Thats 2 ruts, 2 winters, 2 batches of fawns/calves. Along with this the devastation by the fires will make it easier for the predators now that there is reduced deep timber as well as the ground will be easier for them to cover. In the grand scheme of things if you lose 1 year of hunting in a few areas its not the end of the world. But 1 year of no hunting pressure could be immense for these animals. I'm not saying that we should make this a normal occurrence, but in this circumstance because of how rough the environmental factors have been it could do some serious good for the regeneration of some struggling populations.

Keep in mind the OK mtn Park fire, as well as the recent rock creek fire both in region 8, were in wintering ranges - and the ungulate pops in OK mtn area flourished, and the rock creek area ungulates from what I've seen, are doing very well, including mule deer..

[Sitkaspruce]

Animals grow up in a land that is needed to burn in order to regenerate. The elk and deer were back in the black up here after last years fires within a week of it being burned. With in 3 weeks, there was new growth and the elk and deer were all over the place, by the end of September, there was so much green that it was hard to see the black in some places. This year the elk and deer are happy and fat in the burned areas (one was 45000 ha and the other 90000+) Moose are just starting to show up, but they really like it 3-5 year and on wards as that is when their food source really takes off.

Fires are part of the landscape of BC and animals have lived with it for generations. They will survive and continue to live in areas burned and regenerated.

Hunt the burns, you will be surprised at what you see what has all ready started to grow back.

Cheers

SS

[Golddust]

Harry, everyone is in agreeance that the fires are great for the animals in the long term. That fire was 10 years ago. What we are debating now on the short term effects; this year's fires mixed with last years winter, will likely be tough on the animals and maybe we should lay off of them a bit in the areas hit hardest.

Sitka again, I agree, the province needs the fires and our fire suppression efforts are what cause such enormous areas to be burnt in single summers. I forget the tree; but one conifers' cones need the fire fire to germinate. In regards to how quickly the burns greened up I find that surprising and maybe if this is true finding food sources won't be as much of an issue in the areas as some of us believed. However, from my time in university I unfortunately don't believe the areas will be teaming with green pioneer plants in 3 weeks. Hoping what I learned was wrong and your observations are more accurate though.

[Bugle M In]

here you will find a pdf on the 1988 Yellowstone fire.....even on how little wildlife was lost from the fire....
over 1,000,000 hectares!
https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvis...L_Fire_web.pdf

Interesting note:

Only Moose populations declined......why....possibly due to the loss of tree canopy....
sounds likes something that also results here due to some "real heavy logging"......maybe??

[markomoose]

I don't agree with any closures and I'm absolutely 100% positive our government feels the same even though our current government sucks ***. My 2 cents

[Jagermeister]

Hi Dave..years..actually decades ago i spent a week..setting out apples, nets and helping net some California bighorn sheep from the junction herd..the herd was healthy and robust numbers..some clever biologist decided to transplant some of these sheep to USA just in case sometime in the distant future we needed to repatriate due to unforseen devestating losses.
Well a few years ago those 700 sheep in the junction herd were mostly gone..so the decision to bring back some decedent's of the original transplants was acomplished"
Some foresight was a great ace in the hole..for wildlife..even if it was decades later.
Never asked or learned how these sheep learned the migration patterns? Tag along?
The thinking a head truly paid off.
Lets think ahead..get the facts..ensure what's best for wildlife as best we can...
Just thinking out loud.
Srupp

That clever biologist was none other than the late Harold Mitchell. That junction band was the mark in his career.

[Golddust]

Wow, super intersting. Apparently SS was bang on with his statement of the animals moving back to the scortched earth almost immediately after the fire is gone. Really cool and informational case study, thanks Bugle. So it gives evidence that our concerns about the winter are somewhat valid but the new growth was so abundant that the populations rebounded and then continued to increase their populations.

The only real difference between this and Yellowstone is that Yellowstone is free of hunting. I also beleive, at the time, Yellowstone had almost no wolves which play a large role in ungulate mortality. But a more positive comparison in the long run considering everything. Again, thanks. It's nice to have somewhat similar circumstance to compare our current fires to.

[srupp]

The Yellowstone study involves different moisture content of fuel sources. .BC compromises only 10 % of the situations experienced in Yellowstone..so different already..that area experienced numerous fires previous..so our fuel supply was 90 % greater..
The conclusion " there was a unusually high mortality in the winter after the fire, only rain or snow can stop a fire of this size "

The Alberta fire of 2016 in Fort McMurray. Scientist wildlife biologist Lu" Carbyn" that wildlife caught in the path of this fire would have experienced catastrophic losses.and a definate decrease in moose numbers.
However the benifit arrive in 1...3 years..
Not sure what we can learn for the short term..as the Yellowstone fire involved different topography with lower fuel sources haven previously been burned..different species of wood have different moisture contents..different burn rates. .speed of fire advances..

Again all these investigations start after the fires end..in Yellowstone sept 11 by moisture..snow?
Here again slightly different..the fires not only are still burning..are actively increasing, expanding with aggressive growth patterns anticipated by thunderstorm activity predicted next week.
I appreciate that big game, wildlife will move back in shortly..= ? after the fires end..but I'm doubtful they will have any incentive to move back into active burns, or while the ground is still hot from fires.
Having fled 10..20 km. ..to non burning areas..is the reason to return habitat familiarity? At a trade off of no food?
No I don't trust current government..nor will I judge or criticize whatever each hunter choses. ..as i do not yet have the information required for me to make a decision for me.
I appreciate the ideas, information shared in a non judgmental manner by all.i can't make a decision based on information..evidence I don't have.
Did have a cool one..actually 3 bottles of cold clean water.
Thanks guys
Srupp