Will you eat it?

[Tbob]

Just curious for all the wetside elk hunters out there, if you happen to shoot a hoff-Rot elk, will you eat it? Do you feel it's safe enough to feed to your family and friends?

[bobcat]

You could be cited for wastage if you don't.

[grundy53]

Just curious for all the wetside elk hunters out there, if you happen to shoot a hoff-Rot elk, will you eat it? Do you feel it's safe enough to feed to your family and friends?

I won't intentionally shoot one. But if I inadvertently kill one it would depend on how bad it is.

sent from my typewriter

[BULLBLASTER]

I have killed and eaten 3-4 hoof rot bulls from sw wa with no ill affect... other than a crazy long and smelly toenail on my left foot... cant for the life of me figure out what is causing it.
in all seriousness the elk I have dealt woth that had hoof rot had a noticeably smaller quarter on the infected hoof but didnt smell or taste any different.. texture has always been normal etc. I have heard stories on here of hoof rot with basically no muscle left but mine haven't been that bad.

[Pacific]

I have a question about the wastage thing. If you pack it out, process it, and put it in the freezer....and it just takes up space in the freezer indefinitely.....maybe you take some out and it smells bad so you toss it....is that wastage?

[kentrek]

Theres alot of different levels of hoof rot...if its bad enough yo make ya think twice then call fish and game and request for your tag back.... it may be just rumour but ive heard this is a possibility


You wont get a solid answer on if its safe because they dont know what it is...
Lots of these elk have been ate tho...so short term it doesn't appear to cause any problems

[elkhunter00]

I've ate two of them and could not tell any difference.

[Big6bull]

Wdfw will not reissue tags for this. And from what I have seen they will not reissue tags for any situation...
Very bad business ethic if you ask me...

[bobcat]

Page 60 in the hunting reg's says tags will not be replaced:

[Bob33]

I wouldn't not eat it due to health concerns. If the meat was not suitable for eating due to spoilage, smell, and other such factors then I probably would not.

[Mike450r]

The only problems I have seen with the meat has been pretty severe atrophy of the muscle on the effected leg(s) due to less use

[washelkhunter]

I for one am not going to hunt them and certainly not eat one. A sick animal is open to all kinds of other diseases and pathogens. No thank you.

[bowhunterwa87]

 

[Johnb317]

If the animal looks healthy aside from the hoof ... I'd eat it. 
Beef is graded after the animal is slaughtered and skinned. 
In other words I'd look at, and smell the meat.

I think of it as human toenail fungus gone crazy.   

[Stizz]

Id eat it. Worst case trim off anything that seems funky. Honestly as hunters the best thing we could do is target the infected ones...