Pluvius elk with hoof rot

[grundy53]

hey brandon.  . yea i saw some in '08 that just had nubs. but last year was alot better. i was just down there the other weekend and saw 5 heards and no limpers.

[BrandonWatts]

well that is always good to here. i havnt spent much time around that area i am bow hunting towards south bend next year. i have been doing most of my scouting up there.

[woodswalker]

i hate to say this but there already in north river...i made a cast of a print from a year ago...it was chasing a deer

I seen em too man!!!! There are wolves all over the North River!! WTF.....you ever heard of a dog chasin a deer??

Wolf or dog...be one DEAD critter...Seen dogs running deer up my way...end of dog if I could make the shot.

[grundy53]

 

[nontypical176]

What a sad deal.  I live up the Coweeman river, Cowlitz county area and what I seen yesterday made me sick.  Last year there were over 30 head in my yard and only 2 had hoof rot that I could see from about 20 yards and they really weren't very bad, slight limping and only a little club footed.  Yesterday the same heard shows up in the yard and I got an up close look at all of them again.  I counted 28 Elk, there was probably more, but I'd say 2/3 of them had hoof rot and it was bad.  A couple of them had hooves that were 18 inches or better.  There were only 3 mature elk that didn't have it.  One rag horn would only walk a little ways before layin done, looked like he had clown shoes.  The difference in the number of affected animals this year to last is staggering.  I started researching it today, thats how I found this site in fact, but this stuff is spooky.  Unreal how much difference a year can make.  Some things I noticed, the cows still had calves, the biggest bull and cow were fine, and it was almost always on the hind legs.

[ICEMAN]

How sad to hear. I always felt that they should put them down, but maybe letting mother nature deal with it is best...?

[grundy53]

It's really bad when you find ones with a hoof dang near completely rotted off

[bobcat]

This will be their justification for bringing wolves to Mt. St. Helens.   

[carpsniperg2]

This will be their justification for bringing wolves to Mt. St. Helens.   

probaby right with how messed up there thinking is remeber there is only one breeding pair in wa so far and they need 15 or so

[BrandonWatts]

i havent seen any elk this year with hoof rot but i have been up pretty high in 506. we saw about 15 elk this weekend and all were healthy a good sign for sure.

[spottedhand]

We hunt the SW areas as well and have seen quite a few, mostly cows,  none of our bulls had it.  The first time I saw it was in the Ryderwood in '08.  Out of a heard of 12 cows six were limping, my first thought some A-holes were just shooting them up with small caliber rifles.  Interestingly, they were all limping on the right side.  I contacted WDFW and got a quick response. 

Here is the reply,

You and your companions are correct, the elk in that area are suffering from
Hoof Rot.  Unfortunately there is no practical treatment for wild animals.

"Region V of the Wildlife Program has proposed to submit samples for pathology
exam to determine which of the 40 types of hoof rot the elk are experiencing.
We hope to begin that study soon.  There has been some suggestion that this
may be related to a mineral deficiency (selenium) versus the normal bacteria
cause".

Thank you for your interest in our animals health, I regret there is not more
that I can tell you at this time.

Pat Miller

IMOP I think the problem with the meat would be if the animal had it so severe that it was unable to feed properly and started to get sick from malnutrition.

Spottedhand

[grundy53]

IMOP I think the problem with the meat would be if the animal had it so severe that it was unable to feed properly and started to get sick from malnutrition.

Spottedhand

[/quote]

The problem with the meat is when they get a fever from the infection.

[TikkaT3-270Shortmag]

Ive hunted Ryderwood all my life.  Some of the heards have it really bad & some don't.  Ive seen heards where none of the elk have it and Ive seen other heards where 6 are limping.  Ive seen elk in unit 667 limping also.