MULE DEER HABITAT
Springtime grasses and forbs
Grasses and forbs (leafy, flowering plants) make up the bulk of a deer's early spring diet. In early March, motorists often see herds of deer feeding on the succulent plants that grow alongside many highways.
Summer forbs and fall shrubs
In the summer, mule deer continue eating a combination of grasses and forbs. Examples of forbs include dandelion, mountain bluebell, sawtooth butterweed, kochia, tailcup lupine, clover, broadleaf filaree, globemallow and many other types of broad-leafed vegetation. In late summer, as the grasses and flowering plants dry out, mule deer shift their diet to shrubs.
The condition and availability of summer and fall forage is critical. Mule deer use it to build up their fat reserves for the winter months.
Winter browse
During the winter, when most of the other vegetation is covered by snow, deer survive by feeding on exposed browse. Browse is the leaf or twig growth of shrubs, woody vines or trees. Examples of commonly eaten shrubs and browse include sagebrush, bitterbrush, mountain mahogany, cliffrose, rabbitbrush, scrub oak, serviceberry and willow.
ELK HABITAT
Habitat consists of a mosaic of woodland cover and large open areas. Woodland habitat provides escape cover from human disturbance and predators, and wooded corridors provide travel lanes among seasonal habitats. Open areas provide necessary herbaceous forage. Tule elk find suitable foraging and protective cover in various isolated, open coastal regions of California.
Elk native diets consist of a wide seasonal variety of green and dried grasses, forbs, and woody plants.)
Summer range
Elk in the northwest and other regions of the country that experience high snowfall and severe winter conditions typically migrate to higher elevations in summer once adverse winter conditions subside. Protection from human disturbance is a major factor luring elk to summer ranges. A general lack of disturbance provided in the high country woodlands and pastures of national forests, wilderness areas, and national parks makes these lands common elk summer ranges. New grasses and forbs and woodland cover provide the necessary summer food and cover requirements for elk. In states where weather conditions do not prompt migration, elk summer and winter ranges may differ little from one another provided that necessary food and cover requirements are present.
Winter range
In regions in which cold weather and snow prompt migration, elk winter in lower-elevation wooded areas that provide hiding and security cover. Densely wooded lowlands and north/northeast-facing slopes provide valuable hiding cover, and drier, open south/southwest-facing slopes can provide available forage. Because of their large body size and thick coat insulating them from the cold, elk can be found bedding down on open slopes in winter as well. Located together with open woodlands that receive ample sunlight, these habitats create an ideal complex of cover and foraging opportunities that provide elk with suitable winter range.
None of this sounds anything like the dense coniferous forest that are burning in Oregon. 
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