Ryan Fire - WY unit 81 deer

dcopas78

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Heads up on any tag holders for Unit 81 Wyoming mule deer. There is a fire directly across the border that is flaring up rapidly. It is southeast of the Hog Park area moving off to the NE. They have already closed a fairly significant portion of the unit. Info here https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/6210/47990/

Mother Nature is putting the shaft to my dad and I, we have both deer tag and a cow tag for the same unit. I guess I might be planning a last minute hunt somewhere else if it gets real bad or filling a few doe tags here in Ohio to get my freezer full. Good luck to anyone who has a tag here. I hope our collective fortunes change. The weather isn't looking promising to fight a forest fire though with dry conditions the next several days.
 
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Spoke too soon...checked the updated closure map and was pretty shocked. Deleted previous comment to avoid misleading anyone.
 
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If it gets cray cray I bet we can get our tags back just like they did a few years ago
 
This is my (and my buddy's) first elk trip ever (WY 13-6), and we were planning on camping in a spot that's now downwind of that thing starting next Sunday (scout day). Needless to say, I'm watching it close. It grew big time in the first 2 days. But from the sounds of things, I'll need an audible.
 
We are going until the second week so hopefully things don't get worse, and continue to improve. It looks like it has slowed down the last few days but warm, dry weather is about to return so it could flare up again from the sounds of it.
 
Update

Well it looks like this thing kinda blew up yesterday. It is over 8000 acres now and they have expanded the closure area for national forest to include all of the eastern half of unit. It sucks but looks very likely dad and I won't be heading west this year.
 
We will be in 80 first week of Oct. Hopefully it wont be a factor for us too. Maybe they'll get some needed rain
 
My group of five drew the 81 deer tag. We are really bummed out. We will see what Fish and Game says tomorrow. With the closure and no wilderness hunting it doesn't leave to much area for 300 hunters to spread out. I have 6 points in on this hunt. Not what I invisioned for my Wyoming hunt. My whining is over . Lol
 
Picked up big over the weekend. We have ash falling in Laramie from it. You guys better have some plan B's and C's.

It did rain last night in Laramie. Hopefully it did so over the fire area. If the prevailing winds continue, the fire may run out of steam to the east. The closure is big, but still leaves a lot of country.
 
It did rain last night in Laramie. Hopefully it did so over the fire area. If the prevailing winds continue, the fire may run out of steam to the east. The closure is big, but still leaves a lot of country.

Yes, especially since as non-resident hunters we can't hunt the wilderness. We will still go if we have to, but it definitely isn't what I envisioned for our hunt this year. But it could be worse. We could be in the path of that thing or one of the firefighters trying to put it out, so I won't complain too much :)
 
I was antelope hunting in unit 51 in WY and from my camp on Saturday night I watched the flames crest the ridge and come almost down to the valley floor by morning. Friday night the fire seemed pretty tame but Saturday it certainly came alive big time. It was crazy to watch how it spread across the ridge and then down to the valley. I woke up at 3 am to have a look and it looked like fire crew was all over it by then and it had certainly slowed by 7 am the next morning.
 
I just got off the phone with Wyoming G&F. The season has been administratively closed for 81. They sent me paperwork to request a license refund and a reinstatement of preference points. You can still hunt if you so desire on the lands still open. We will probably lose out on our cow elk tag fees since the season is still open, but I can't drive 22 hours for a cow personally. I will probably go ahead and submit the paperwork for it as well, just to give it a try. It was just a "get lucky" tag for us anyways. Can't say I like losing the money but oh well. The main thing is I will be able to get my preference points back and the deer tag fee. Good luck to all, no matter what you all decide to do. If you hunt, hope you all kill slungers. Save a free for me and dad for next year maybe.
 
Weather change for us this week so maybe it will get some containment.
So much smoke in Laramie lately that health issues are a consideration.

I would be talking with G&F now to see what they offer on your tags. Might be wise to postpone til next year if they will refund or reserve a tag for you.
They say every hunters and camper has been evacuated from the hunt area, that was last weekend.
 
I am/was planning on being out there the second week of Oct with a cow tag, been watching this thing grow, might have to reconsider the trip. I was really looking forward to this hunt and hopefully meat in the freezer.
 
Weather change for us this week so maybe it will get some containment.
So much smoke in Laramie lately that health issues are a consideration.

I would be talking with G&F now to see what they offer on your tags. Might be wise to postpone til next year if they will refund or reserve a tag for you.
They say every hunters and camper has been evacuated from the hunt area, that was last weekend.

I think I may have been typing when you were. I called back just right after my last post to make sure I should include my tags with the request form and the lady I talked to this time said go ahead and submit both the elk and deer tag and we should be able to get refunds for both. Hope the fire gets put out quick for you all and you can breath a little easier.
 
I have the 80/83 deer tag and a couple 51 pronghorn tags.

Any read on the fire moving far enough north to affect deer? I was planning on driving up a few days early to scout. Probably leave Wednesday.

As for pronghorn I figure if it works out while I'm on deer trip fine, if not I'll go back later once things settle down. I love long hunts rather than the 3 day lope hunts here in NM. Any thoughts?
 
I have the 80/83 deer tag and a couple 51 pronghorn tags.

Any read on the fire moving far enough north to affect deer? I was planning on driving up a few days early to scout. Probably leave Wednesday.

As for pronghorn I figure if it works out while I'm on deer trip fine, if not I'll go back later once things settle down. I love long hunts rather than the 3 day lope hunts here in NM. Any thoughts?

I would call G&F or the new biologist in that area and see what they are saying about the 51 antelope tags. Deer should be ok. We may be over to check out our antelope area just to the north of the fire this weekend. Will post back on conditions to the north if it pans out.

Glad to hear you'll get the refund on all your tags. G&F is fair, in my book, about these issues.
 
I have the 80/83 deer tag and a couple 51 pronghorn tags.

Any read on the fire moving far enough north to affect deer? I was planning on driving up a few days early to scout. Probably leave Wednesday.

As for pronghorn I figure if it works out while I'm on deer trip fine, if not I'll go back later once things settle down. I love long hunts rather than the 3 day lope hunts here in NM. Any thoughts?

I called fish and game earlier today. They say only refunds for 81 deer and 13 elk right now. We have 80/83 deer tags and 52 goat tags. Fingers crossed right now. We plan on leaving this Friday from NC. The girl from game and fish said to call Friday before we leave to confirm everything. Kind of worried myself.
 
Hopefully the rain this morning and cooler temps in the forecast will slow things down. Around 4am it was really coming down, hopefully they got some of the same. As mentioned earlier the ash and smoke in town over the weekend made it apparent the fire was raging.
 
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