Free: Contests & Raffles.
I've not seen anything official about the further expansion of wolves in Western WA. I haven't looked either.
This leads to my other observation, I think the problem will resolve itself. Over the past couple years I have noticed less and less elk with the affliction than 2-3 years ago, yes I still see them but overall there are less of them. The biggest reason being hunter predation. The afflicted elk simply dont move as far or as fast as the healthy ones. Of the elk I have observed or seen killed with hoof rot all have appeared healthy in body size and weight, forage is plentiful and elk dont have to move alot to get adequate feed. They do to escape, or move distance in response to hunter pressure. So as the infected ( or defected) ones are harvested there is less and less spread.
Quote from: blackveltbowhunter on December 26, 2010, 10:08:56 AMThis leads to my other observation, I think the problem will resolve itself. Over the past couple years I have noticed less and less elk with the affliction than 2-3 years ago, yes I still see them but overall there are less of them. The biggest reason being hunter predation. The afflicted elk simply dont move as far or as fast as the healthy ones. Of the elk I have observed or seen killed with hoof rot all have appeared healthy in body size and weight, forage is plentiful and elk dont have to move alot to get adequate feed. They do to escape, or move distance in response to hunter pressure. So as the infected ( or defected) ones are harvested there is less and less spread.I think your off the mark by a mile.Ive seen it to be more prevalent every year.Ive seen more elk than I care to count that are malnourished enough that they probably wont make it through the winter.Ive seen legal bulls with stunted horns that didnt even have the velvet rubbed off them.(also extremely malnourished)Ive seen elk killed during hunting season that stunk so bad I wouldnt suggest anybody eat any part of it.Ive seen it start in 1 small local area and spread for miles in every direction.I used to never see it east of I-5.Now I see a few cases every year.Not every elk with hoof rot will be harvested.When I see herds with 40-50% infection rates.It tells me this is going to get much worse before it gets better.Ive seen several elk that I would have shot,just to put out of their misery.If it werent for the ramifications.
where are you seeing these huge 40-50% infection rates?
Couple observations I made: Last year a local Coweeman river herd had almost no hoof rot I could see, this year close to 70% had it and it was horrible in some of the elk. Later this year I seen them again, and many of the elk that had the long elf like hooves seemed to be better than they were this summer. All the cows that were infected this summer still had calves, and from what I seen this winter, the offspring look good. My buddy shot one of these elk a 2 or 3 year old rag horn and it had hoof rot. 3 of his hooves were a little longer than normal and the other was a short little stub. I helped him butcher that elk and the meat all looked and smelled good.I come up with questions from observing this 30+ elk herd. Why did the elk look so much healthier this fall/winter than they did during the summer? What happened to the elk feet that were long and elf like?(I seen none this winter). Do they break or rot off after they get so big? Is that why my buddys elk had one stub hoof? Somehow the elk live and thrive with this condition. The heard I have been watching is seen by many people, gets hunted pretty hard, constantly gets chased by pet dogs, has a horrible case of hoof rot, is getting pushed around by new developements and yet the number of elk in this herd is strong.Hoof rot is a miserable condition for sure, and its just my opinion, but to me the condition and the damage doesn't look permanent. Elk are tough and infected elk can recover from what I've seen.
The stubbed hoof
