Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Hunters Urged to Avoid Burned Areas in the Ferris and Seminoe Mountains

The Bureau of Land Management’s Rawlins Field Office (RFO) is urging hunters with tags in northern Carbon County, Wyo., to adjust their hunting plans.
Approximately 12,479 acres were burned 30 miles northeast of Rawlins, Wyo., in this summer’s Ferris and Seminoe wildfires. The Ferris and Seminoe mountains serve as important elk, mule deer and pronghorn range and popular hunting areas on the east end of Ferris Mountain and north and west of Seminoe Dam in the Seminoe Mountains were affected.
As the archery season gets underway and the rifle season approaches, big game hunters are being informed of the burned areas. “We want hunters to know ahead of time the areas that burned so they can move their hunting trip to a different part of the mountain,” explains Andy Warren, RFO Supervisory Rangeland Management Specialist. He adds, “The habitat needs time to recover so that wildlife will have a long-term benefit from these fires.”
While the Ferris and Seminoe wildfire areas are not off limits to recreation, including hunting, hunters should recognize that wildlife may not be as prevalent in burned areas. The increased amount of human presence and air traffic while fighting the fires, coupled with the loss of available forage and cover, may have caused many wildlife species to relocate into adjacent unburned areas. If any member of the public chooses to recreate in these areas, Warren stresses, “Please stay on roads and off burned habitat and where fire engines drove to minimize further damage and erosion.”

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