Smoke doesn't bother deer, elk; early hunting seasons to open on time

By NICK GEVOCK Chronicle Staff Writer

The wildfire smoke hovering in the area in recent weeks, irritating human eyes and scratching throats, appears to be doing little to redistribute the region's deer and elk herds, biologists say.

Unless a fire is bearing down on game animals, they don't move to get away from smoke, officials with the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife an Parks said Friday.

And this year, with smaller fires in southwest Montana, biologists haven't heard reports of large migrations of deer, elk or other mountain game animals to escape the flames.

"At this point in time, even the major (fires) are relatively small," said Tom Lemke, FWP's Paradise Valley biologist. "Because of the rugged terrain they're in and their size, the fires are not causing any major redistribution of the animals."

FWP officials also said this week that none of the fires threaten to jeopardize the early hunting seasons for archery hunters or special permit holders. Select areas of public land, however, might be closed off to all access.

Little hard evidence has been collected about how fires push animals around, in part because when a fire breaks out, airspace closures usually bar biologists from flying over an area to track collared animals, said Ken Hamlin, FWP statewide elk biologist.

The data that has been gathered, however, indicates it takes a lot more than smoke to drive animals from their habitat.

Naturally, large animals flee an area when a large fire is approaching. Occasionally, deer and elk get caught in an area that is unescapable and get burned to death, which happened during the massive Yellowstone National Park fires in 1988.

Yet fire does play a long-term role in game movements and behavior.

For example, if an elk winter range burns, the large herbivores can follow their annual migration, find nothing to sustain them through the winter and be forced to move on.

On the other hand, game animals are sometimes seen in an area that was burning days earlier, digging through the ashes in search of minerals. Even more significant, an area that has burned is ripe for regrowth, often within weeks, if timely rains lend help, Hamlin said.

Not only is the new growth tender and nutritious, but the fire burns up old dry brush that gets in the way.

"All that resprout stuff is the new forage they love, and it's easy to get to," Hamlin said.

Game animals sometimes find refuge in a burn the fall after a fire because the lack of cover makes it difficult for predators, including humans, to sneak up.

Some seasons for moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goats open Sept. 1, as does the mountain grouse season. Archery season for deer and elk opens Sept. 6.

FWP has said that all early hunting seasons will start as originally planned.

Lemke recommended that hunters with any doubts about the area they plan to hunt call the U.S. Forest Service or FWP.

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