I have the same theory why in twenty years of knowing about this haven't they made this more of a priority. All I have seen is one study done by some vet from WSU. IF the WDFW is cannot afford dto do anything then they should at least inform hunters on what they should do if they do shoot an elk but has no harvestavble meat or meat they should not eat. I shot a cow this year in the mossyrock that was sick and had hoof rot real bad but was with 6 healthy other cows. It was an adult cow but you could see its spine and the joints on its legs were all swelled up. I cleaned it and then took it to show the game warden. He was polite enough to issue me another tag. However I still had the feeling I was robbed of an opportunity and felt bad that these elk in a good part of the state are sick with no effort to fix this issue.
