The Hunt for Hoof Rot

Sportsmen throughout the Pacific Northwest have built a lifestyle around elk hunting that brings them closer to nature and bonds them to the ungulate as something to be both admired and consumed. 

Many in Southwest Washington fear that lifestyle is under threat by a disease known as hoof rot. 

Well before sunrise on Sunday morning, Jim Boylan Jr. left his home in Spanaway to make the more than two-hour drive to Raymond. Boylan is one of dozens of volunteers who signed up with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to survey elk populations throughout Southwest Washington in an area stretching from Pacific County to Mount St. Helens. 

He was assigned to survey the Weyerhaeuser-owned Aberdeen Tree Farm, in the Minot Peak area. 

Hoof rot causes hooves to deform and eventually fall off completely, leaving the affected animal limping. Scientists believe the disease may be caused by treponeme bacteria, which is also linked to hoof diseases in sheep and cattle around the world.

Up until recent years, it had never before been seen in elk populations. 

Its distribution had been limited to farms, but researchers believe the area’s damp, cool soils provide ideal living conditions for it to survive. 

There is no known cure. 

Boylan grew up hunting with his father, and now in his 40s, the sport has become a way to remember his dad and stock his freezer for a year or more. 

He’s been hunting in the Toutle area since 2011. At that point, he saw maybe one or two elk limping, but by 2013, he said about a third of the elk he saw had hoof rot. 

He worries that should the disease go unchecked, it could have disastrous effects on the elk populations and ultimately mean an end to hunting in the region. 

When WDFW put a call out for “citizen scientists” to survey elk populations and determine the number of elk affected by hoof rot, he quickly signed up. 

“I wanted to be part of the solution before we lose our elk,” he said. 

So many people volunteered to participate in the survey that WDFW had to turn many away. Boylan said his training session last March in Montesano was mixed with people from college students to older lifetime hunters. 

All the volunteers were required to take a class to recognize limping elk, then were given maps and a GPS and told to survey 50 miles of a given area in Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Skamania, Clark, Grays Harbor, Thurston, Pierce, Pacific, Lewis or Mason counties.

In a press release on the issue, Sandra Jonker, WDFW wildlife manager for Southwest Washington, said the survey is meant to assess the ratio of diseased elk to healthy elk.

“The department has been documenting the geographical spread of hoof disease for some time, but we also need to understand its prevalence from one area to another,” Jonker said. 

“We need to know where elk are most affected and least affected to inform management of this disease.”

Driving up state Route 6 just after sunrise, Boylan saw a herd of elk standing in a farm field and shrouded in the valley fog. The elk, however, were outside of the survey area so he drove on. 

The part of the tree farm Boylan was to survey was a blend of clearcuts, monoculture conifer saplings too dense to see through and tall, loggable trees. Over the course of seven hours, he rumbled through down nearly 50 miles of logging roads, never going more than 10 miles per hour as he gazed out into the forest. 

He did come across one hightailing black bear and one grouse, but aside from a few tracks along the roads, he didn’t see any elk or deer in the area. 

As often is the case during hunting trips, the light and the forest combine to trick the brain. 

“There’s another one of them stump elk,” he said, after hitting the brakes and taking a closer look with his binoculars. 

Although he didn’t see anything, the day wasn’t a total loss. 

“At least I got to be out in the woods,” he said.