National news is reporting more on it now, but not in much detail. This thing stretches from well below the California border on the south end clear up to within a few miles of the little mountain community of Agness, OR. Agness is about 40 miles from the border and the fire went down into California probably another 15-20 miles. It is up to 334,000 acres now according to the news and will continue to burn until the rains start here, usually in mid to late October. Winds out of the north have slowed its northern progress. To the east it is within about 8 miles of Galice on the Rogue River. This puts the east edge of the fire probably less than 20 miles from us. Some days the winds are strong from the west and really move the smoke this way, and of course help the fire move this way also.

Are we in harms way?
Could be. Considering how far the fire has travelled overall, if wind patterns become more prominent from the west, we could be.

Friends with a gold mine claim live 3 miles from the Rogue River on Galice Creek & I drove up there this morning for their son's birthday get together. They walked down the canyon and had their get together for him along the highway since the road up the canyon was blocked to outside traffic. While we sat there, one fire crew after another went up the canyon, including crews from Montanna, and I understand there are crews from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada working also. The main camp at the south end of the fire is base for 7,000 firecrew members and support. Across the hill a couple miles from us they have a spike camp set up with I understand about 1,000 based there.

Heavy equipment was moving up the Galice Creek Canyon to our friend's mining claim where they are to clear a spot and open up a pond for hauling water out by chopper from his claim. His mine has diversion ditches from Galice Creek.

Tim, Steve, and I were hunting just outside the Galice district not far from the fire itself. The terrain is really steep in places and has very thick vegetation. We ran across some of the biggest elk tracks I have seen anywhere. While locking up all this wilderness just to let billions of board feet of good lumber go up in smoke is our prudent U.S. bunny hugger policy, one good thing that will come of it is new growth following the fire.

Mature, "climax" forests are pretty sterile for game, but "pioneer" new growth after a fire is outstanding. Plus, with things burned off, access and visibility should be much better. Bottom line is that in the next few years it should be outstanding elk hunting. Deer should be better also.

Total acreage burned is estimated to be about 500,000 acres before the fire is contained or nature puts it out later this fall. That is quite a chunk of real estate.

Tim put the range finder to one canyon we were in, and it was less than 200 yards across..... handgun range.

Since this is good bear country, I will spend what time I can around the burn area after the fires are out, and may put in on the draw for bulls next fall. Deer will be bunched up in areas surrounding the fire. Should be better than average deer hunting this year also. These are blacktail deer here, not the biggest, but still good TC targets you might want to consider exercizing your Contender or Encore on. Season starts September 28 and runs through Nov. 6. Fire is in the Chetco unit, #27, far southwest corner of the state. Some access around the fire area will be closed off, but there should be places to hunt not too far from it. Most of it, regs. say 81%, is Forest Service or BLM land. Gotta have a deer tag to hunt bear during this time anyway, so looks like I'll have to get a deer tag also.

Oh, and the spotted owls, the ones that taste like chicken , one logger told me that they often deliberately shoot them just because the bunny huggers shut the forests down because of them. Nothing like making the bird controversial on the one hand, then letting vegetation get out of hand and burn up their environment entirely on the other. Wonder where all the spotted owls on a half million acres will be roosting these days?

And just remember, all those hundreds of thousands of acres locked up from productive logging and mining are costing tax payers millions of dollars trying to stop the fire from destroying more forest and all the homes and buildings in and around it.

Simply dumb. Hopefully this fire will shake up the environmentalist controlled policies we have.

It amazes me how many gold mines there are in this area and how much earth has been moved, essentially whole mountain tops in places. But these areas are now often open productive meadows. I don't see the results of all the gold mining that went on in the past as such a bad thing. As it is now, there are not many mines working, and those that are are so heavily regulated they don't seem to be able to do much.

While silt from mining no doubt had a serious effect on trout and salmon fisheries, for all the conservation affected by locking up all this area in National Forest, One Oregon Dept. of Forestry employee told me that the Chetco River fishery located in the burn area will be pretty much destroyed for some time. The Chetco is one of the main salmon rivers in southwest Oregon.

That's it from southwest Oregon. Fire could be a mixed blessing and offer some hunting opportunities both now and in years to come.

Mike

Mike,
I sure hope they get this fire under control soon. The enviroegomaniacs sure make policies that create big problems. Forest fires are natures way of maintaining a balance, but the loss of homes and personal property can be devaststing.
As a side to this I will include a local news article as a friend of mine is heading a fire crew in oregon. I dont know if he is in your area, But Steve is one of the best in the business. I have fought fires beside him here in the adirondack park and his judgment and knowledge is unequalled.

Local men to help fight Oregon blaze

By DARRIN YOUKER
youker@poststar.com

Published on 7/26/2002
THE POST-STAR

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Two local men have been sent to battle a blaze in Oregon threatening portions of the Willamette National Forest.

Steve Ovitt, a New York state forest ranger from Johnsburg, will lead a 20-member team from across the state and will join other fire companies battling the blaze just east of Eugene, Ore. Jason Gibbins, a member of the Greenfield Center Fire Department, will go along with the team.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has a list of 100 firefighters and forest rangers who have volunteered for such duty. Teams are dispatched when the U.S. Forest Service request additional manpower, said Peter Constantake, DEC spokesman.

"All of the team members are trained firefighters," Constantake said. "They honestly love this stuff."

The team left Albany International Airport Wednesday and arrived in Portland early Thursday morning.

In June, a DEC team fought a wildfire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.

For Gibbins, 22, this is his second-time fighting fires in the West. In 2000, Gibbins went to fight a fire in Colorado, said his mother, Karen Gibbins. Her son has been a firefighter since he was 16, following in a family tradition, she said.

Both his mother and father, Gary, are involved in firefighting. Still, Karen Gibbins says, "I'm a nervous wreck. But I have all the confidence in the world in Jason."

The fire has spread across 87,000 acres and is threatening 60 homes in the area. Fire officials believe the blaze was started by lightning. About 2,000 firefighters are fighting the blaze, including 250 Oregon National Guard troops.

The New York state team will battle one of 25 major fire active in Oregon that has burned a total of 216,000 acres.

Mike, the hunting should be outstanding over there next season, all those new fresh greens coming up are just a beacon for deer and elk, tho I wonder how much wildlife will be lost in the fire itself.
Heard yesterday that this fire is equal to or greater than the big Tillamook fire back in 1933.

If we get these east winds this week as predicted mother nature could just push that fire right into the ocean, which could be effective in slowing it down but, oh lord all the populations between the fire and the coast.
I do believe it will get a lot worse before it gets any better. Fire season ain't over by a long shot.

Wes

Mike -
Interesting news! I'm a little pessimistic about your hope that this might shake up the idiot invironmentalists. I think it would have a much better chance if this was better publicized. I may be living a VERY sheltered life, and I have been busy (you know that from the lack of new work on the site) but I have only seen passing mention of the fires on the news here. Hopefully that is due to change.

Please wish our gold mining friends the best and speak up if they have a need that we might be able to help with.

steve

Gotta confess a personal interest in the firefighting aspect myself. I worked several fires in Utah on a crew in '89. 'Tis exciting having a chopper drop you off on a mountain top barely wide enough for the chopper to rest on.... then the grueling fun begins. Don't think the body would last long cutting a firelane today, but it has been tempting ....... I do relate!

This fire is down in the southwest corner, but as noted, there are other fires going now also, including the northwest, but again, there is little being publicised about them. Guess someone has to get killed before they'll say much more about it.

As big as this fire is, the friend mentioned above could very well end up down here.

Did I mention in my first post that one of the National Guard troops at the Galice Creek roadblock used to work for Nosler? Quite interesting talking to him! Turned out he is normally on a tank crew (Army type tank, like with big gun) and trained at Hohenfeld, Germany, one of the places I trained during Desert Storm in '91.

I would imagine that most of the larger game moves out ahead of the fires. If this climate were more severe in the winter, I would expect the losses from lack of feed to be greater. But as mild as the winters are here and as lush as the country is, I would not expect the concentrated game populations to be much at risk.

1buba, maybe you should think about coming back up during the deer season.

Mike

It is a shame that all that timber is lost. I guess having trees to look at is more important than getting some use out of something.

:-)
Checking on the deer tags now!

steve

Mike,

THe more future hunting you are bringing to light that will be in your area is giving me all the more incentive to make a future visit to you out there in grants pass!

How much is an out of state hunting license?

Deer is $191.50 and you already have your
$58 hunting license. Again, the season runs from Sept. 28 to Nov. 6, which is quite a "window of opportunity" if one has the time. Blacktails aren't the biggest deer, but apparently do develop some pretty nice racks. No such thing as anything "bad" when hunted with a TC, right? I might even have one going by then, myself!

And, Jules, I don't have any more pull with that turkey, Bellm, than you do. I want a .250 Savage Imp. myself!

Map at the store in Merlin dated Aug. 9 showed 334,000 acres burned. Paper today, three days later, showed the total as 376,000, up 42,000 acres in just 3 days. Natives say they will be fighting it until the snows come.

Talked briefly to the neighbor to the west who used to work on the National Forest lands. He spoke briefly of the big Tillamook fire he had experience with. I need to talk to him more to find out what to expect following such a fire. May be quite informative.

BTW, you recall how smokey it was in Grants Pass before you left here. That was nothing! The winds were out of the west today and from up on the freeway, you couldn't see more than maybe a half dozen blocks into town at the most! Today was the worst it has been so far. Hard telling what the next map of the burn area will look like!

A half million acres burned is anticipated. The game has to go somewhere. Could turn out to be outstanding hunting this year and years to come when new forage starts developing.

If the moderator does not mind, I will continue updates here as I learn more. Could be an excellent TC exercise area, and if we don't get burned out, there is room for several outfits to camp here at our place as a base camp. Plus, there are plenty of "pay" camp grounds in the area, as well as spots along the river and elsewhere in the mountains where one can camp.

Mike

And, Jules, I don't have any more pull with that turkey, Bellm, than you do. I want a .250 Savage Imp. myself!

Mike[/QB][/QUOTE]
I know, I know. Sometimes ya just have to slap him and let him know who's boss. You just give me the word and i'll have you a 257 barrel there in no time.

Pretty weird here last night. 110 degrees in the shade, heavy smoke clouds overhead, bright red/orange sun, and everything had a strange reddish orange cast to it. The heat of the sun coming through the smoke cloud seemed to be intensified. Strangest thing I have experienced.

More on hunting post-burn areas. Talked to the bear hunter local we hunted with two years ago about hunting prospects around burned areas, and he said he's gotten some nice bucks by having one person watch an UNBURNED pocket of timber INSIDE the burned area while another person pushes the pocket.

I was under the assumption that everything in a burned area was burned, but he said there will always be pockets that don't burn, and in addition to game being concentrated outside the burn area, there will still be game inside it.

It may seem unfair taking advantage of the situation on the one hand, but as thick as the vegetation is here, I don't see it as a problem. If hunting here was easy, the deer season would not be so long, nor would the bear season. And with bear, there are enough bear that you can get a SECOND bear tag.

Looks like a pretty good opportunity to me.

Mike

Dang.... that 20 mile gap between us and the fire is down to about 12 miles. It is now 10 miles west of Merlin, and Merlin is just over the hill a couple miles from us.

There is a high mountain ridge to the west of us, and the fire sure looked awfully close to the top of the back side today.

It is getting close. Hope they get it contained.

I don't have the exact url for it handy, but if you go to www.siskyounationalforest.com or something close to Siskyou National Forest, you will get it. The pages pertaining to the north end of the fire are Biscuit Complex and/or Zone 4, that includes Agness, which is the closest area that was posted as of several days ago. It lists all the equipment and manpower on the fire, which is at or around 400,000 acres last I knew several days ago. But judging from how far it has advanced, I am sure that figure is outdated.

Mike

Here ya go
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/siskiyou/

lots of info there

Thanks, Wes.

Grants Pass paper also gave www.biscuitfire.com as a site for updates on the fire, known in part as the Biscuit fire.

Paper said 418,000 acres burned in this one so far.

Just WHERE are all those spotted owls going to roost now? Hopefully in some environmentalists' backyards where they will be declared a nuisance.

Mike

Mike -
Sounds like y'all have a giant spotted owl BBQ going on up there. Maybe we can find out if its true - that they taste just like chicken...

steve

Mike, keep an eye out for Bigfoot. I hear they're running in front of the fire.

Seriously heard this on the Art Bell show Friday morning on my way home from work. I guess you better keep your camera and Contender close!