Fire’s impacts on wildlife unclear

By Jen Sieve-Hicks

Buffalo Bulletin

Via Wyoming News Exchange

BUFFALO — Local outfitter Dustin Decroo's first deer hunters were supposed to begin their hunts Labor Day weekend, but after the House Draw fire burned through the area, finding those deer has become harder, and he's been in touch with his clients to let them know what the current situation is.

“In terms of deer and elk – they just moved. They're dispersed, and I'm not sure where they're at. I've been out a lot in the last week, and the only thing I've seen is some antelope hanging out on the edges (of the burn),” said Decroo, who owns Big Horn Outfitters. “We have lots of places to hunt that weren't affected by the fire, but I don't know how far they went or which direction they went.” 

With hunting season already underway, outfitters are working to ensure their hunters have quality hunts – even if that means postponing until next season. 

The House Draw fire was started by lightning on Aug. 21 and subsequently burned over 174,000 acres east of Buffalo. 

As recovery efforts begin, the long-term impacts of the fire on habitat and wildlife remain unknown.

Christina Schmidt, the public information specialist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Sheridan Region, said that it is not possible to do a complete survey of the impacted areas, “so exact numbers of losses will not be known.” 

However, Game and Fish personnel are working with land management agencies and private landowners to assess these losses.

So far, it seems pronghorn antelope have been the hardest hit big game species, she said, with wildlife managers having located approximately 50 pronghorn throughout the burned areas that were deceased or required euthanasia.

“Pronghorn have difficulty navigating some fence types and therefore have more difficulty escaping fire,” Schmidt said. “Most other wildlife species are more adept at escape. At this time, they have not found any deer or elk mortalities.”

Avian and nongame species aren't as visible, so how those species were affected is unclear.

Outfitters adjust

The sagebrush steppe that stretches from Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains on the west to the Black Hills of South Dakota on the east is a fragile ecosystem characterized by a mosaic of sagebrush and native grasses. With low rainfall, it is a harsh environment with few trees. Despite that, it is prime habitat for Greater Sage-Grouse and mule deer, both uniquely adapted to consume sagebrush, and it's important for antelope and elk.

When the House Draw fire burned through the steppe, it charred important livestock grazing acres but also land that many local outfitters lease from ranchers for outfitted hunts.

T.J. Tavegie, owner of Bear Track Outfitters, said those hunts are especially prized because the hunts are on private land – which can be exceedingly hard to access without an outfitter – and there is very little public land in the area.

"It's exclusive, that's why guys are willing to pay for it, because they know they're going to have exclusive hunting,” Tavegie said. "They're not going to look over on the next ridge and see an orange hat.”

Since the fire, Tavegie has traveled extensively around the parcels he leases. 

Based on what he saw, he believes the number of antelope that were killed in the fire is likely higher than Game and Fish estimates, and he wonders whether some animals have died since the fire from illness, stress or infection.

Concern for antelope populations and the fact that in some places the landscape looks like "a moonscape – it's just dirt," led Tavegie to cancel a number of antelope hunts that he had booked for the House Draw fire area.

Game and Fish has accommodated those canceled hunts and allowed hunters to either request a refund with preference points returned as well, or request a license reservation for the same species, hunt area and license type for next year.

"What I told my guys is, I'd rather you be upset and disappointed now, but you're getting a refund and you're getting those preference points back, than coming out, trying to hunt, not having a quality hunt and then being upset and disappointed,” Tavegie said. “We can start over, and we get the preference points back, and we can buy another preference point this year we're in. We'll reevaluate next year and see what it looks like.”

Tavegie estimates that in Antelope Hunt Area 22, which stretches from I-90 on the north to Wyoming Highway 192 on the south and is bounded on the west by Interstate 25 and reaches almost as far east as Lower Sussex Road, 60% of the area he leases for hunting was burned.

In extreme circumstances, the Game and Fish can and has used emergency rules to close hunt areas. 

For example, during the 2022-23 winter, pronghorn in the Pinedale region experienced extreme winter mortality due to the unusually harsh winter and an outbreak of mycoplasma bovis. This prompted an emergency rule to close Hunt Area 85 for the 2023 hunting season. The closure was continued for the 2024 season.

However, Game and Fish has indicated it plans to proceed with planned hunting seasons in the area of the burn, in part because hunts are a critical tool for managing populations.

Schmidt said the fires likely reduced feed and short-term carrying capacity, and wildlife managers do expect some animals to move to unburned areas. And fall moisture could regrow some vegetation before winter.

“Part of the reason the department is proceeding with planned hunts is to manage big game numbers and not overburden the existing habitat,” she said.

Decroo said that fire will affect outfitters in different ways, depending on where they have leases to hunt.

"It's going to affect all the different outfitters in a fairly different way, but none of it is good,” he said.

Unlike Tavegie, the area where Decroo typically hunts antelope was largely unaffected by the fires, so he expects those hunts to proceed pretty normally. 

But the lands he has leased for deer and elk hunts were impacted, so he is working with clients to shift those hunts around.

“Not every hunt area has been equally impacted, and in some cases, such as Elk Hunt Area 129, the impacted area from this fire is small compared to the overall size of the hunt area,” Schmidt said. “Most hunters who have arranged hunts in areas outside the boundaries of the fire will be able to continue their hunts.”

Longer-term impacts 

Several of the big game herds that inhabited the House Draw fire area had population numbers that were below Game and Fish management objectives.

The antelope in Hunt Areas 16 and 22 were recovering from the impacts of severe drought conditions in 2020-21 and disease (epizootic hemorrhagic and bluetongue virus) in 2021-22.

Decroo said in one antelope hunt area, the number of tags has ticked steadily downward, from about 1,100 tags in 2018 to 250 this year.

"The antelope can't catch a break,” he said.

Deer Hunt Areas 29 and 26 were impacted by the fire. And like antelope, these herds had already been impacted by drought conditions in several previous years and epizootic hemorrhagic disease was observed and verified for three consecutive years (202022) and had population-level impacts, Schmidt said.

“Looking out longer term, there may be impacts to wildlife due to loss of forage, but a lot of it will depend on upcoming fall and winter conditions,” she said. "Last year's winter saw less snowpack and generally warmer temperatures than the previous winter, which translates to better overwinter survival rates. Likewise, late summer and fall moisture could benefit regrowth and help reduce impacts to forage.”

Schmidt said that while fires of this magnitude may have some short-term effects on things such as breeding, wildlife biologists are more concerned about how long-term impacts to habitat and distribution ultimately affect herds. 

Annual big game surveys will monitor populations and distribution of animals. Biologists will use this information to inform future management decisions. 

The department will also be working on habitat restoration projects, invasive annual grass control and wildlife-friendly fencing projects in conjunction with landowners and land management agencies.

“With an immediate reduction of forage and potential long term shifts of the vegetative community, we could see long-term changes as well,” Schmidt said. “Some vegetation is slower to recover from such events, like sagebrush, and a shift in the plant community could be impactful long term.”

This story was published on September 5, 2024.