Day fire and hogs

[ooja]

Will the fire have any effect on public land hog hunting? Some here have stated that those areas that burned were holding. Not many but some. Does this mean those pigs are toast, or ran north or ?

Will the fires create a good habitat in the future for hogs, now that it has thinned out a bit?

Should be good for bird hunting up in those areas in a few years. Doves love scorched trees to perch in, and fires make new growth with lots of seed.

Whatcha think? I am a little excited, many of those areas had virtually no access due to scrub brush being unhuntable for spot and stalkers, now access will not be a problem for a while.

As a side note, my sincerest prayers go out to families whose homes are threatened by the fire.

 

[NatureDriven]

Because much of the plant life in California is designed to thrive and expand when burned, like most burned areas (look at the san bernardino mtns. for example), after a couple nice wet winters that land will be a wildlife haven!

 

[upper]

The pigs will be fine,but will have nothing to do with the natural order of anything positive. Upper

 

[CAjackrabbitWCP]

In CA:

Burning=Good


Natural and necessary

 

[Speckmisser]

Second all the replies... the habitat in LPNF is meant to burn regularly. Only problem now is, due to the fire suppression policies in the past, the fuel load gets high and the fire becomes a bit more devastating. Still, the habitat and the critters it supports recover very well. Hunting will probably improve for most species.

Like other wildlife, the hogs shouldn't have much problem escaping the fire unless they're blocked by some kind of significant barrier (e.g. the ocean). A few will probably get cooked, but not enough to harm the population.

The biggest downside is that fire often opens up areas that were previously "inaccessible" to the average hunter...which means a lot more hunting pressure until the area fills in again. Next deer season ought to be interesting down there.

The hogs will likely relocate to wherever the cover is, until the undergrowth comes back... but I wouldn't be surprised if some dedicated hunters rack up over the next couple of years.

 

[Jake]

The Day fire isnt affecting to many (if any) spots for hogs, it has however destroyed a large and popular area for CA Muley hunters within D13. Hopefully it will start recovering soon.

 

[NatureDriven]

To expand on your comment Speckmisser, I would be surprised if the Forest Service allowed any access to that land for at least two years, not until the regrowth thickens up. That is, as long as they use the same logic they used when the back side of Crestline off of 138 burned 5 years ago, and the more recent Lake Arrowhead fire of three years ago. Problem is, people tend to think that because the land is open they can drive off of the designated roads, which tears up the regrowth. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Speckmisser]

NatureDriven,

Part of me sort of hopes they do exactly that... and for exactly that reason.

My favorite little haunt in the B zone burned a few years ago, for the first time in 85 years. It exposed entire hillsides that suddenly became accessible to 4wheelers and dirt bikes. I don't mean to implicate all OHV riders, but there are an awful lot of bad apples who think the whole bloody forest is their playground.

Fortunately for those of us who hunt out there, instead of closing the area, the NFS cracked down on violators. There's a youth detention center/work camp nearby also, so the barriers were replaced pretty quickly across the trailheads and replanting efforts started right away. It also helped that the rains came early and those roads are closed when it gets wet... so that allowed the place to recover.

It sucks that this is the way it has to be, but if you can't keep the jerks and idiots off of the place, you have to keep everybody out.

 

[dlvmark]

I dident know they had hogs in that area. Can anyone tell me of a place to hunt in two years? Where will the hogs be? Mark

 

[NatureDriven]

I couldn't agree more Speckmisser.

Mark, If I were hunting for pigs on that land in a couple years I would look for where the regrowth is the thickest in basins or canyons (it will hold the most nutrients for eating and provide cover), that lies closest to area's that weren't burned and of course a source for water.

 

[shovelerslayer]

Timed out on the Day Fire yesterday, and I can tell you there is a lot of great habitat being created!! Unfortunately, the potential is there for the rain to cause massive havoc too. Whole drainages are bare. I was overseeing a hand crew on the back side of Bear Haven behind Ojai. Awesome country!! I walked quite a bit of the trail from Doe Flat into the Sespe Wilderness and Cow Springs one day. Tons of quail, dove, and bears in the burned area. Even managed to see two nice bucks!! I'll probably end up on it again in several days, this one will hang around for a while even after we contain it.

 

[Mike C]

The Day fire has burned lots of habitat. Most of it was in accessable before the fire. Here is where you can find a map of the burn area and you can probably check the Los Padres National forest for the map that shows the closed areas. http://inciweb.org/incident/announcements/article/475/3090/ There is also a link to Google earth that shows the fire area at Google Earth Static KML File.
Back in the 50’s we used to hike the area. We would make a 50 mile loop from Lion Canyon camp in Rose Valley up to the old Pine Mountain Lodge, just a pile of old logs then. Then up to Thorn Meadows camp through Mutau Flats down Johnson Ridge to Sespe Hot Springs. From there we would hike half way back to Lion camp and stop about half way, probably at Oak Flat camp or Willett camp. Some times we would hike it in reverse and it was a killer hiking out of the Sespe Hot Springs up Johnson Ridge. It took a toll on many a scout master. Back then my Uncle worked for an outfit that had the contract to maintain all the forest fire roads for the LPNF. Even the trails we maintained by had crews and small dozer cats that wase only about 3 feet wide and about 6 feet long with a blade in front. Looked like a mini D8.

Things started to change around the 60’ first there were the hippies that cut all the trees down in Lions camp. Then the heavy rains that washed out lots of the forest service fire roads. Then 4WD getting around the forest service gates and started tearing thing up along the Sespe River. Somewhere in the late 70’s or early 80’s the environmentalist found that there was an endangered frog in Lion camp and got it shut down. You can still hike through and get on the trail. My Dad and Uncle use to talk about the 1932 Matilija Fire that burned 219000 acres. There have been several fires since then but the Day fire is the only fire I know of that has burned in that area for better than 60 years maybe even longer and at 162000+ acres the largest in California history.

If memory serves me correct the Condor Preserve is closed to access and hunting. The rest of the burn area is in the Sespe Wildlife area and is pretty rugged. One thing I do know for sure that if the over growth gets burned out from Lion camp down stream around the Sespe River the quail hunting will be excellent in a couple of years. And for all you with young legs that like to packet in and packet it out just give it some time to come back. About hogs, well who knows there could be? I know there are lots off of La Canada Road between Sulphur Mountain and the city of Ventura. But you can’t hunt it because it is all private property. Every once in a while one will wander out on the Hwy 33 and get hit.

And a big thank you to all who were on the fire lines. And God bless.

 

[spectr17]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

There have been several fires since then but the Day fire is the only fire I know of that has burned in that area for better than 60 years maybe even longer and at 162000+ acres the largest in California history.[/b]

L.A. Times had the Day fire at 4rth largest ever in CA last week at 160K acres. #1 is the timber lost on the Klamath and Stanislaus National Forests

Cedar Fire a couple years ago in San DIego. 275K acres with 15 dead and 2400 structures.

Day fire is big, no doubt. Lots of guys stumbling around at work from working that fire so much.

 

[Mike C]

Looks like typical news reporting getting facts mixed up. One report I heard it was the largest and longest lasting which made it Ca #1. But I am not going to pi__ up that rope. Not that important to me as to who had the biggest. And your information is probably more correct than the news media. After all they did present the picture that Ojai, Santa Paula and Fillmore were going to go up in flames.

The funny side of it was that the news reports freaked my son inlaw so much he thought they should evacuate there place in Ojai. That was until my daughter pointed out they only had to walk two blocks to the evacuation center at Nordhoff High School. Doe!