Infected foot?
- Thread starter hbg1
- Start date
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Walking bone pile right there. I'm not one to put a deer down because they're incredibly tough and resilient animals but I might make an exception here
Same, gotta be suffering
Injured foot
Looks injured but is suffering from something else maybe, I know deer can recover from EHD and lose hoofs from it, maybe this is the start of shedding a hoof? A number of years ago I shot 1 that had shed and was shedding them. not sure what happens in the process.
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BSK
Well-Known Member
This.
Could be late stages of EHD, or it could be a severe internal infection from the foot.
She looks like she's about to lose the entire leg. Poor girl won't survive long when coyotes run out of easy prey this fall.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Both/ all the above.
That amount of weight loss didn't happen overnight. CWD, heavy parasite load, metabolic disease, digestive problem, etc. The swollen foot is just coincidental and likely completely unrelated to the real problem.
That amount of weight loss didn't happen overnight. CWD, heavy parasite load, metabolic disease, digestive problem, etc. The swollen foot is just coincidental and likely completely unrelated to the real problem.
killingtime 41
Well-Known Member
I know EHD is terrible. But from what I've read about it and I could be wrong. But doesn't the mother pass on some immunity to the fawn. No immune for life but some form of immunity at least.
I haven't read a lot about it but I would think some immunity could be passed along but whether it is enough to save them or not I couldn't say. I know they are flat out lucky if they survive. horrible disease.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Yes, some, through her milk. This may be enough to get a deer through to surviving the disease instead of dying. But that is why the outbreaks are cyclical. It takes 7-10 years for most of the local population to have lost their immunity or for all the deer with some immunity to die off from old age, natural causes, or hunting mortality.
Hung in a fence then got loose? There was one around here that had a broken flopping hind hoof. She made it through winter but the hoof was twice the size of the rest and black looking. She never got that thin and poor.
I had a deer on camera years ago that looked about like that. Never saw her again. I assumed she died of predation or whatever was wrong with her.
My dad had a deer, on his land, that lost her leg from a car accident. The leg turned black and fell off over time. She lived several years beyond that as a tripod. We never heard if she was taken during hunting season or if she died of natural causes/ predation. Deer are tough animals.
My dad had a deer, on his land, that lost her leg from a car accident. The leg turned black and fell off over time. She lived several years beyond that as a tripod. We never heard if she was taken during hunting season or if she died of natural causes/ predation. Deer are tough animals.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
would have to have zero coyotes around... for that amount of weight loss, would have had to be hung up for weeks before getting free.
Could be the foot caused the infection that has become systemic. Or, could be that the deer was already weakened when it injured it's foot and has no ability to fight whatever has caused the swelling in that foot and leg. Hard to say for sure one way or the other.
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
That's a sad scene! One thing she's not doing is feeling sorry for herself. She's just trying to survive that day. We have no idea how difficult it is for a deer to make a living.
