Burns

[Cyrus]

I am not a botanist...but what exactly do ungulates like feasting on or what plant life should I be looking for in forest fire burn areas? I've come across various grasses and huge amounts of clover. Is this something deer like?

[ghost]

in my area they like fireweed.

[wideopenthrottle]

moose sure like/need willows..
here is a link to some info
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/plants-animals-and-ecosystems/wildlife-wildlife-habitat/staying-safe-around-wildlife/ungulate-feeding-june8th.pdf

[one-shot-wonder]

Numerous shrub species including Saskatoon berry, Chokecherry and Ceanothus which is a critical winter forage for deer.

[rocksteady]

Fire creates all sort of good forage.. fireweed , willow, aspen, grasses...

As long it is fairly low intensity.. high intensity, high severity fires sterilize the site

[Cyrus]

I've heard the best time is 2 yrs after the fire. Does this hold true with what you have experienced?

[Liveforthehunt]

I've heard the best time is 2 yrs after the fire. Does this hold true with what you have experienced?

I have had success in a burn as long as you can see up to 10 years later but between 3-5 years seems to of been the peak animal pops in one specific area I'm sure it varies

[Darksith]

I've heard the best time is 2 yrs after the fire. Does this hold true with what you have experienced?

Some of the best hunting is 6-10 years after a burn, then it starts to grow up and it gets harder to hunt. Lots of burns around Kamloops that I hunt or have hunted. I actually stay out of fresh burns that are 1-3 years old...not sure if thats wise but generally speaking Im looking for the "next generation" that grew up in the burn rather than that deer that migrated into it. I think you will have higher numbers 4+ years after the burn than in years 1-3

What fire does is it resets the age of the forest/area. It allows sunlight to reach the ground, which allows all sorts of new plants to grow, then in a few years the willows, aspen and birch start to come in followed by the conifers. A mature forest doesn't have a lot of life on the forest floor and bc of that it doesn't support large populations of big game animals. Banff has been doing controlled burns for a long time trying to reset the age of some of its forests to keep the animals around for the tourists.

So even after year 10 the burn will hold a lot of wildlife, it just gets much harder to hunt, but if you know the area then thats easily overcome. So don't necessarily look for certain plants, look for age of area, that will give you an indication as to what type and how much wildlife could be in that area