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Deer Limping major problem- hoove issues- multiple deer/farms?!?!????

Sligh1

Sligh1

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Haven't checked in for a while, congrats to u all!
I have hunted 4 different areas. All 4- I have NEVER seen this many deer walking on 3 legs. Ever. Recent. These r not gun shot wounds. I see swollen all the way to mangled hooves. I've seen at least 10-12 deer in last week alone in 4 different areas who look bad. Bro's and buddies seeing same thing. Never seen it like this.
1) what the heck could be causing this? EHD recovery impacts hooves but I'm talking about recent limpers. Ice jammed up between hooves? It's bad whatever it is. Deer are not putting weight on it. What could it be???? I've hunted 20+ years and never seen anything like it and I'm stumped.
2) what is your opinions on the varieties of OUTCOMES for these deer? I mean- I see a buck with a swollen hoove he won't put weight on. Is he coyote food or does he recover? I realize it depends how bad it is but again, I don't know how bad these are or even what is causing it. One part of me says "shoot every one of em" but another part thinks they could bounce back. I'm clueless here to be honest. Stumped. Thoughts?!???
 
I'm not sure what area you were in. I was hunting my farm in southern wayne/decatur the last 3 days. (No gun pressure in the area) I had 2 different bucks that were carrying a front leg. Both of these deer were swollen up to the 1st joint of that particular leg. Other than that, both deer appeared look healthy. Lineville area
 
That is strange. We haven't seen any like this although Lee and Tiff's live video cam down the road from us has a few bucks with this same issue. One of them has had a front leg in that condition since last winter. He is still healthy and grew a big normal looking rack but he sure doesn't like to put weight on that front leg.
 
Tough to tell what is going on without a closer exam than you will ever get on a live wild deer. Three of the 6 deer our little group shot in SW IA during SG1 were lame but all different. One old broken leg (probably hit by car), one infected knee joint (maybe hit by car) and one bad infected foot (cause unknown). I know that EHD can cause foot problems (founder or laminitis) in survivors. That presents as rings on the hoof, perhaps even sloughing of the hoof. That usually affects all 4 feet but once affected the feet are much more prone to bacterial infection that may just be in a single foot and present as a severe single foot lameness (usually front feet). Wet environment is also associated with "foot rot" in cattle & sheep so no reason I know of that deer wouldn't be similar. Again, tough to tell without a closer exam (& even then sometimes hard to tell for sure). If you kill one look at all 4 feet and see if there are "rings" that suggest laminitis which may be an EHD survivor. If it's just one affected foot with 3 normal, more likely an injury, puncture wound or "foot rot".
 
Interesting...I too have noticed a couple of deer limping and to the best of my knowledge, it wasn't because they had been wounded.

Just guessing here...but the ice/snow combo that is on the ground right now could be a factor IMO. Depending on where a deer would step, I could see many, many footsteps resulting in the deer's hooves poking through the ice and cutting/irritating the flesh between the two hard parts of the hoof.
 
Dr Dale Garner talk about this at the 2015 spring banquet. The swollen hooves are from EHD. The deer that didn't die from it had cell damage and it affects the feet. He said its not foot rot like they are having in the north west part of the country. Last year during shot gun season three bucks that people shot the antlers shed after hitting the ground and all three had bad feet. I haven't heard much of this problem yet this year until now.
 
Buddy of mine shot a buck before the snow that had a big limp. One of the toes (or whatever they are) on its hoof was shorter than the other one. Was also swollen.
 
My Youngest boy just shot his first deer last week and he had a bad limp. He had also shed one side. When we got up to him both his right side feet were real swollen. He also had lost half his body weight. He was in bad shape!
 
Thanks for feedback guys!
Totally new area last night.... Right off the bat- 2 deer with limps. Swollen hooves would not put weight on. Through bino's - one hoof looked swollen & the 2 hooves were kinda "spread apart". Foot was big and as before- no sign of holes, blood (like a gun shot which all of these r not). FYI- I am in area that had lots of rain this year.
 
I think I would shoot one and see if it could be tested. I would be super curious of the results. If it is EHD I would think the fact that there are so many survivors is a good thing in the long run or at least that's what Darwin would say.

I've only noticed one deer limping in my neck of the woods for what ever that's worth. Thats seeing about 20 deer a night on various plots.
 
Hunted southeastern Iowa Tuesday Jan 5th for first time since Thanksgiving. Had 14 deer in field feeding. One deer (no rack) would not put any weight on back right leg. Also a two year old buck had limp but would bear weight on back right leg.

BB
 
Dad had two bucks come out limping bad the other night. They were not close enough to tell what was wrong with them.
 
At the end of December I saw a young shed buck that looked like one half the rear hoof was missing. The foot was swollen.
 
Sligh1 said:
Thanks for feedback guys!
Totally new area last night.... Right off the bat- 2 deer with limps. Swollen hooves would not put weight on. Through bino's - one hoof looked swollen & the 2 hooves were kinda "spread apart". Foot was big and as before- no sign of holes, blood (like a gun shot which all of these r not). FYI- I am in area that had lots of rain this year.
Click to expand...

Hey Skip. I had recently posted in the harvest report about my buck that I shot during muzzleloader season and he had the exact same thing you are describing. Swollen and infected back right hoof and he could not put any weight on it. He didn't look right at all. He was 4.5, but there was no way I was letting him walk out of my life in that condition. Not sure if it was from EHD or what, but it certainly fits what you have been describing.
 
Well- I have not shed hunted period. Been doing some tsi and crp seeding. I'm guessing I covered 25% of the farms just by Doing work and chores.... Between several farms- in the last 30 days I'm up to 7 shed bucks dead. All but one I could not verify had hoof deformities. Did the photo issue with posting pics get resolved yet? I've taken pics of of the hooves. Between all the farms and a lot of acres- I'm gonna guess I find 12-20 bucks from whatever this hoof issue is. I do think it's possibly EHD cracking hooves or some kind of hoof Rot. It's bad. I thought this year was a break from EHD but I don't think it was. *had I not been deep in timber where I usually don't venture- gridding the areas for tsi- I never would have noticed or found all these bucks.
 
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Man that sucks! I have never heard of that issue. Gonna have to check my farm in week or two, I hope we don't have this problem.
 
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