G&F speaks out on Unit 1 and hunting future

[AZLance]

Wildfire information

 

There are currently three significant wildfires burning in Arizona. The Arizona Game and Fish Department, although a wildlife agency, is a community-minded organization, and is concerned for the citizens and communities that have been displaced, lost property, and endured hardships from these tragic events.

 

Dozens of Game and Fish law enforcement officers are assisting the firefighting effort by helping with evacuations, security, and sharing important on-the-ground knowledge of the community and landscape to incident management teams.

 

It is far too early to know the short-term or long-term impacts the fire will have to habitat, wildlife, waters, access, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation until the fires are put out and crews can go in and make an assessment.

 

The Wallow Fire in northeastern Arizona on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests lies within Game Management Units 1 and 27; popular hunts in these units include elk, antelope, deer, turkey and bear.

 

There are two fires burning in the Coronado National Forest, the Horseshoe Two, primarily Unit 29 and portions of Unit 30A; and the Murphy Complex, which encompasses Unit 36A, 36B, and 36C. Both of these areas are popular for hunting mule deer, white-tailed deer, javelina, and small game.

 

For those who have applied for or already have a hunting permit in any of these units, there are no provisions in state law (ARS §17-332) or Commission rule for Game and Fish to issue any refunds, reinstate bonus points or offer a rain-check.

 

However, worth noting, is that until the fires are put out, there is no certainty what the conditions will be in these areas, and hunters could find conditions ranging from area closures to near-normal conditions come hunting season. As an example, here is what the department found in Unit 3C in the aftermath of the huge Rodeo-Chediski Fire in 2002:

 

Of the Unit 3C habitat on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests impacted by the fire, 28 percent was determined to be severely burned, 19 percent moderately burned, 26 percent low impact, and 27 percent was unburned.

 

There was no significant reduction in the availability of big game animals in the fall hunts.

 

Department personnel conducted two aerial surveys and several ground surveys in the unit after the fire. There was no evidence of any large migration of elk or deer out of the burn area. With the onset of the monsoon, it is anticipated that a significant portion of Units 1 and 27 will have adequate forage, and that elk will be well distributed prior to the hunts.

 

For those that are still planning to apply for a fall hunt, you may want to take these variables into consideration when applying.

 

Game and Fish will continue to provide information related to wildlife, habitat, and outdoor recreation in these areas as more is learned at www.azgfd.gov.

 

To stay informed on fire incident information, visit www.inciweb.org.

[Elkhunter1]

I have several trail cam shots of wt, grey fox, coyote, turkey in the recently burned areas of unit 34A. see my new shots, burned in the trail shots forum.

Wildfire information

 

There are currently three significant wildfires burning in Arizona. The Arizona Game and Fish Department, although a wildlife agency, is a community-minded organization, and is concerned for the citizens and communities that have been displaced, lost property, and endured hardships from these tragic events.

 

Dozens of Game and Fish law enforcement officers are assisting the firefighting effort by helping with evacuations, security, and sharing important on-the-ground knowledge of the community and landscape to incident management teams.

 

It is far too early to know the short-term or long-term impacts the fire will have to habitat, wildlife, waters, access, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation until the fires are put out and crews can go in and make an assessment.

 

The Wallow Fire in northeastern Arizona on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests lies within Game Management Units 1 and 27; popular hunts in these units include elk, antelope, deer, turkey and bear.

 

There are two fires burning in the Coronado National Forest, the Horseshoe Two, primarily Unit 29 and portions of Unit 30A; and the Murphy Complex, which encompasses Unit 36A, 36B, and 36C. Both of these areas are popular for hunting mule deer, white-tailed deer, javelina, and small game.

 

For those who have applied for or already have a hunting permit in any of these units, there are no provisions in state law (ARS §17-332) or Commission rule for Game and Fish to issue any refunds, reinstate bonus points or offer a rain-check.

 

However, worth noting, is that until the fires are put out, there is no certainty what the conditions will be in these areas, and hunters could find conditions ranging from area closures to near-normal conditions come hunting season. As an example, here is what the department found in Unit 3C in the aftermath of the huge Rodeo-Chediski Fire in 2002:

 

Of the Unit 3C habitat on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests impacted by the fire, 28 percent was determined to be severely burned, 19 percent moderately burned, 26 percent low impact, and 27 percent was unburned.

 

There was no significant reduction in the availability of big game animals in the fall hunts.

 

Department personnel conducted two aerial surveys and several ground surveys in the unit after the fire. There was no evidence of any large migration of elk or deer out of the burn area. With the onset of the monsoon, it is anticipated that a significant portion of Units 1 and 27 will have adequate forage, and that elk will be well distributed prior to the hunts.

 

For those that are still planning to apply for a fall hunt, you may want to take these variables into consideration when applying.

 

Game and Fish will continue to provide information related to wildlife, habitat, and outdoor recreation in these areas as more is learned at www.azgfd.gov.

 

To stay informed on fire incident information, visit www.inciweb.org.

[dave]

Lance,

 

You said it very well.

 

I am curious what impact this will have with water. Even if there is habitat and cover, what water will the animals be able to drink? The Black River will have earned it's name.

[CouesFanatic]

Typical Govt agencies. We should never expect them to do what is right. I feel bad for the unit one archery hunters. Adding 90 tags to the hunt this year and now half the unit is torched. 117 is gunna be a madhouse come Sept 9. 27 got killed, the wilderness area is gunna be a like going to Cabelas.

 

No significant reduction in animals, what happened to all the torched dead elk? Oh, but we have the time and money to save the dumb wolves. I'm sure everyone would rather save the wolves instead of the 30 plus homes that were burnt down. What a joke.

[.270]

this fire won't kill a lot of adult large mammals. it will devistate the fawn/calf crop of the elk, deer and pronghorn. any calves or fawns already on the ground will be in real danger of not making it. either from stress, fire or the fact that most of the feed their mothers need to make milk has been burned up. you can bet almost every young turkey won't make it. the polts and nests in the path will all be burned. same with squirrels, rabbits, grouse, quail, songbirds, everything that nests. several years down the road, things might even get better. but there will be some real lean years until then. Lark.

[cdenton]

Fire burns in a mosaic pattern but I've noticed on the wallow fire that is especially true. There are some nuked areas but spotty and not huge chunks of them. The rodeo chediski has miles of black sticks in alot of areas. Haven't seen that on this fire yet especially in unit 1. There are some areas in unit 27 in the steeper mixed conifer areas that got wiped out pretty good. But as long as we dont lose alot of the soils with the rain alot of it will come back with aspen. Yesterday in unit 1, I saw several large groups of elk 200, 150, 95, 50, 40. Lots of cows and calves. Also saw several hundred near sunrise on the rez. Amazingly enough as dry as it is, the flats up by big lake that were burned are starting to green up. Getting some moisure out of that soil from somewhere. Would be nice to get some gentle rains and get some grass growing to help before the heavy rains come. Theres been an aggressive effort to get dozer lines and such rehabbed with waterbars and seeded before the rains come. Also a big analyis to see what areas need to be seeded and strawed to help prevent flooding. Where there were treatments it looks great a nice low intenstiy ground fire. These treatments need to extend to more of a landscape scale instead of a halfmile buffer around a community due to 3 mile spotting. Personally I think alot of areas are gonna come back great but azgf does need to back off the tags for a couple of years. We need good monsoon season and a good winter to help alot of the areas rebound.

[.270]

what do the big praries look like? from like the 409 road east to the other side of the boneyard? any grass left? thing that worries me is what kind of affect it's going to have on all the little babies that are on the ground now. if there is a significant amount of grass left so the cows and does can make milk, the babies could do ok. i'm sure sick about the baby turkeys and all the small game. there had to be a horrible toll taken on the little critters. Lark.

[cdenton]

From what I've seen the grasslands are fine. They are all pretty much burnt from thompson ranch across the 409 over to boneyard and out williams valley but every bottom is green and fire didn't carry through it. I imagine the fire got some calves but the groups i've been seeing have a good number of calves with them. Its amazing that the grass that did burn is greening up. As long as the rains come on time i think things will be in good shape. Been getting some cloud buildup in the afternoons. Hopefully around the 4th they will get going. As for the small critters they probably got hit a little harder. The worst spots i've seen in unit 1 are the east fork lcr above greer, upper riggs and benton creek into milligan valley got cooked pretty bad, three forks, and conklin ridge to big lake lookout. The western and northern side of escudilla got it pretty bad too.

[Coach]

From what I've seen the grasslands are fine. They are all pretty much burnt from thompson ranch across the 409 over to boneyard and out williams valley but every bottom is green and fire didn't carry through it. I imagine the fire got some calves but the groups i've been seeing have a good number of calves with them. Its amazing that the grass that did burn is greening up. As long as the rains come on time i think things will be in good shape. Been getting some cloud buildup in the afternoons. Hopefully around the 4th they will get going. As for the small critters they probably got hit a little harder. The worst spots i've seen in unit 1 are the east fork lcr above greer, upper riggs and benton creek into milligan valley got cooked pretty bad, three forks, and conklin ridge to big lake lookout. The western and northern side of escudilla got it pretty bad too.

 

It's great to hear from somebody who actually knows what is going on in there. Thanks for the updates. What happened to the Punch Bowl? I know the West and North side of Escudilla got burned up badly, but what happened to Skunk Flat and the East portion of Escudilla?

[cdenton]

From what I've seen the grasslands are fine. They are all pretty much burnt from thompson ranch across the 409 over to boneyard and out williams valley but every bottom is green and fire didn't carry through it. I imagine the fire got some calves but the groups i've been seeing have a good number of calves with them. Its amazing that the grass that did burn is greening up. As long as the rains come on time i think things will be in good shape. Been getting some cloud buildup in the afternoons. Hopefully around the 4th they will get going. As for the small critters they probably got hit a little harder. The worst spots i've seen in unit 1 are the east fork lcr above greer, upper riggs and benton creek into milligan valley got cooked pretty bad, three forks, and conklin ridge to big lake lookout. The western and northern side of escudilla got it pretty bad too.

 

It's great to hear from somebody who actually knows what is going on in there. Thanks for the updates. What happened to the Punch Bowl? I know the West and North side of Escudilla got burned up badly, but what happened to Skunk Flat and the East portion of Escudilla?

Punch bowl is fine. From the punch bowl south to the south tip of escudilla coming into alpine did real good. We were able to let it back down off the top and it was a real low intensity fire just cleaning up the ground fuels. Skunk flat itself is fine. The 275 rd pretty much held the fire. There is a knob that it slopped across onto that is right next to the road that goes to skunk flat but didn't burn too hot. Went from dry valley upto rogers reservoir and across od ridge and down water canyon today. Fire must have went through there at night. Real nice surface fire. Couldn't have done a better job on a prescribed burn. Theres spots that got hot here and there but overall looked really good.