Hoof Rot?

[YellowDog]

What is the farthest east anyone has seen hoof rot in WA state?  The reason I ask is that a few years back during early archery season I walked up on a big bull that jumped off the trail and stood there looking at me.  I checked him out real good and realized that his right front lower leg was messed up.  I thought it was maybe shot off but it was more like a club at the end of his lower leg but the leg did seem shorter because he would lean down and put minimal weight on it when he stood still.  Weird stuff.

[headshot5]

The game department say's (Don't laugh, I know better then to trust them) it's a Selenium and copper deficiency...   I don't know why they all the sudden ran out of it

Hoof rot transfers by bacteria on the ground.  The bacteria gets in cuts and crevices on an elks hoof and spreads. 

Selenium promotes hoof growth and quaility, which helps stop the spread of hoof rot.  It also promotes anti-bodies and healing.  So while a selenium deficiency is not the cause of hoof rot, it does help to keep elk from getting it if they have selenium available as it promotes healthy hooves and so the bacteria won't have an easy time getting in. 

Note:  Too much selenium is a bad thing also, and is toxic.

If hoof rot worries you, you can always put out, Mineralized Salt with Selenium Blocks when you put salt out for deer and elk.  It won't prevent hoof rot but it will keep the herd healthier and make it harder for hoof rot to transfer between animals.

[nontypical176]

I put out 2 selenium blocks with copper, the elk never touch them, deer do though.  It reminds me of dog toe nails.  If my dogs spend a long period of time doing nothing their nails grow long and should be clipped, but if they stay active the toe nails are worn down short.   Many of the hoof rot elk around here have great big long deformed hoofs (usually just one leg), or a stub that doesn't even resemble a hoof.  Another note, the hoof rotted bulls almost always have some goofy horns on atleast one side. 

Culling the herd doesn't seem like a logical approach to fixing the problem, some elk will always slip through the cracks and infect others.  The battleground unit became either sex before I had ever even seen or heard of hoof rot in the area and now its everywhere.  I think we need to get more wolves, should fix everything........Just Kidding.  Sure is odd that nowadays its a big problem, but it wasn't this bad before...kinda makes you wonder what changed.  I guarantee you that if everyone else seen what I have, (30 elk limping, skinny and miserable all at once, bulls calves and cows), more would be getting done.  It just doesn't make the news, like an orphaned wolf pup.

[HntnFsh]

Ive seen that type of devastation over around Winlock and Vader.

[BENCHLEG]

my wifes toutle cow had it.  taste like anyother elk we have eaten.

[wildwood]

Were I hunt its pretty bad I've noticed a couple things the ones with it are down low it could be just cause they come down during winter and dont want to go back up and almost all of them have it on the left hind and I spend alot of time up there never seen a front infected kinda weird I've seen nice bulls try to keep up with the herd and fall over  This year seen a mature cow with a calf that still had spots on it during september trying to keep up with her calf and was struggling so bad her calf was ahead of her and kept mewing to her catch up it made me want to hang up the bow or just start hunting out of state                I wish the state would do more than say its a nutrient problem im no biologist though

[Smith_22]

Why is it only one hoof that gets affected?  It doesn't seem like a bacteria would be selective? 

[kenzmad]

Why is it only one hoof that gets affected?  It doesn't seem like a bacteria would be selective? 

It is not only in one hoof. mine had it on all 4.

[Kowsrule30]

My buddy's Coweeman cow had it on 3 hoof's..... One very bad.......   He said actually jumped the herd.... Saw one was struggling to keep up..... Ran after them..... And was able to get withing 150 yards of her while the rest of the herd was long gone...... He thought somebody had wounded it..... Just the hooves rotting off slowed her down..... A lot.....

[nontypical176]

I noticed that in the herd near my place its usually only 1 hoof, but not always.  From my observation it seems like the first hoof to get infected is the leg they start limping on and my "guess" is thats why that hoof gets so overgrown and disfigured.  We seen a cow that was harvested walking on a rear hoof that was stubbed off (almost no hoof at all) but the other rear leg wasn't hardly being used and had a big ugly hoof on that side.  Saw a yearling this fall that had hoof rot on a front leg, its usually infects a rear leg though, but I don't know why, maybe its just easier for them to limp on a back leg.  The WDFW sent a biologist to look at the herd last year, but they didn't do anything other than try to count how many were limping.  I wish there was something I could do to help, especially when its a herd I hunt regularly.  They should be healthy happy elk, but thats not the case. 

Its hard to watch a herd that is infected this bad.....trueth is I here guys that look for an elk that isn't limping before pulling the trigger and I don't blaim them for it.  People are just trying to fill the freezer harvesting a cow and all the info. I've found about hoof rot came off the internet, and not everyone uses the net or understands what hoof rot is.  My rag horn was a limper and I guarantee you that hoof rot was the last thing I was worried about....He filled my freezer just right and is delicious.  My first branch bull years ago was limping, but it wasn't hoof rot, it was a broadhead stuck in the hip and over a quarter of the elk was gain green rot, and I lost a lot of meat.  Around the house here limpers are from hoof rot and several people I know have harvested these animals with no meat problems at all other than maybe being a little skinny on one side.

[nontypical176]

Question for the people that have cattle with hoof rot.  What do you guys do when cows/goats whatever get hoof rot?  How come we don't see a bunch of limping cattle in the areas where the elk are limping?  Are elk just more susseptable to it?  Deer around here don't have it, but elk are having all sorts of issues with it....Kinda like the mange the deer around here had for a while (don't see it much anymore), but I never seen an elk one with mange like the deer had.  Sure odd that its such a growing problem in the last several years, but I never seen it once up til about 5 years ago.  Maybe it just took a while for the disease to figure out a way to start infecting elk.

[AKBowman]

Why is it that we're seeing so much of it from just those few GMU's? Can't be any worse than out around the Hoh River area if ya wanna talk swamp. Anyone getting them with the rot from the Forks/Hoh area? Or even down around the Raymond area, that place is really a swamp too.

It's in the willapa hills and fall river units. Haven't seen it as far west as Menlo yet. So not quite to Raymond but close.

Maybe the eastern half of 506 but I've seen a couple hundred elk in the western most part of 506 over the last few seasons and never noticed one limping. Hopefully it will stay that way but doesnt sound like it. I have definitely noticed a reduced number of elk in the area I hunt from 4 years ago. 200 cow tags a year for 3 years in a row have done a number on the population overall.

[grundy53]

Why is it that we're seeing so much of it from just those few GMU's? Can't be any worse than out around the Hoh River area if ya wanna talk swamp. Anyone getting them with the rot from the Forks/Hoh area? Or even down around the Raymond area, that place is really a swamp too.

It's in the willapa hills and fall river units. Haven't seen it as far west as Menlo yet. So not quite to Raymond but close.

Maybe the eastern half of 506 but I've seen a couple hundred elk in the western most part of 506 over the last few seasons and never noticed one limping. Hopefully it will stay that way but doesnt sound like it. I have definitely noticed a reduced number of elk in the area I hunt from 4 years ago. 200 cow tags a year for 3 years in a row have done a number on the population overall.

I have seen it at the west end of 506. Just not as much.

[steen]

Cattle get treated for it.  If I had a cow tag and saw a limper, I'd opt to take one of those to ease the suffering and improve herd health.  I might pick one that isn't as bad but take a limper if I had time to think about it.

[nontypical176]

Just got a good look at the herd that comes into the area near my house (battleground unit), which isn't very often and not since before rifle season....30 plus head and thought we seen one that might not have been limping.  I was hoping at some point the hoof rot would start to ease up a bit, but thats not the case.  4 spikes and a raghorn in the bunch, all had a goofy, messed up horn on at least one side.  Got a good look at the hooves of a couple cows holding up a hind leg, way overgrown.  It's just plain wierd how every one of them is favoring one hind leg, some noticeably skinnier on that side.  Not what I wanted to see for Valentines.  Neighbors let their dogs out and of course they chased the elk away....My dogs had been hanging around the herd all day without a care.  All of it is irritating and sad.  I'll just keep wishing the next time they come back that none will be limping.  Makes me want to puke. 

On another note, all the bulls still had their horns and 2 spikes were fighting for a while...LIVE ACTION....raining too hard to get any good pictures though.