Messed up elk

[Clint_S]

Just got these pics from a guy who put this elk down in the west kootenays a while back. The CO's vet took some samples but I haven't heard what the results were if any. Really looks messed and almost burnt although it was early spring. I went to put a game camera on the carcass but some grizz moved it and when I found it a week later there was nothing left.

http://s677.photobucket.com/albums/vv133/Stubby_01/Elk001wholebodyandhead.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv133/Stubby_01/Elk009fullbody.jpg

[35 Whelen]

She physically looks well muscled. Her coat looks a lot like a tick infestation, with all the hair matted down from dried blood and wounds festering . Those ticks can be awful on animals. Surprised she made it through the winter like that.

[elkdom]

that elk in the pictures is not emaciated, the wounds and lacerations on the hide would suggest the elk ha been in collision with an automobile or a train maybe, or even a long tumble down a mountain side, this elk has good form and body mass, extreme tic infestation stresses the animal, a combination off blood loss and stress leads eventually to extreme tissue loss and to death,

and lastly as elk are "groomers" they tend to not have the tic mortality that moose endures, moose do not "groom themselves',,

[BlacktailStalker]

Jeez, poor little bugger.

[Shehunter84]

Mother Nature is brutal

[huntcoop]

That is friggin' nasty.

[Summit 512]

Is that a big bruise on the hind quarter.....like elkdom says maybe it was hit by something. I wonder how far off the high way it was.

[elkdom]

Is that a big bruise on the hind quarter.....like elkdom says maybe it was hit by something. I wonder how far off the high way it was.

lol, yes I would bet that elk was found within 2 or 3 kms of a busy road!

tics DO NOT beat up and bruise their hosts, tics do not make large lacerations

and bruises, the lacerations indicate the elk was bruised and dragged while ALIVE!,
and the bruises had to happen BEFORE the animal died!


there are no TICS that BIG! :eek: :lol::lol::lol:

besides the bruises and lacerations the elk was in GOOD condition!

[Caveman]

that elk in the pictures is not emaciated, the wounds and lacerations on the hide would suggest the elk ha been in collision with an automobile or a train maybe, or even a long tumble down a mountain side, this elk has good form and body mass, extreme tic infestation stresses the animal, a combination off blood loss and stress leads eventually to extreme tissue loss and to death,




My Thoughts As Well!

[trapperRick]

This almost looks like mange like when coyotes get too thick they get a mange and lose all their fur and some die off and back home in Sask I have seen deer get mange as well

[huntinnewbie]

I agree that it looks like mange of some type. There are no deep lacerations that would be the results of a collision woith an automobile and a train would have left just a pile of body parts. it's is amazing how much damage an animal can do to itself in a effort to relief the itching. They can easily rub themselves raw. Once they damage the skin to thate xtent it becomes a vicious circle of constant scratching to relief the itch of both the diesease and the wounds. The burnt look to the skin it also typical of a severe mange/ mite infestation. Even severe lice can do it although poor body condition is usually present with lice.

[elkdom]

I agree that it looks like mange of some type. There are no deep lacerations that would be the results of a collision woith an automobile and a train would have left just a pile of body parts. it's is amazing how much damage an animal can do to itself in a effort to relief the itching. They can easily rub themselves raw. Once they damage the skin to thate xtent it becomes a vicious circle of constant scratching to relief the itch of both the diesease and the wounds. The burnt look to the skin it also typical of a severe mange/ mite infestation. Even severe lice can do it although poor body condition is usually present with lice.

ELK do not suffer severe TIC infestation to the extent of what moose do, once more ELK are groomers and avoid extreme tic infestation,

I witness several hundred big game auto / truck collisions every year, this is typical damage from a collision, bruises, lacerations, skid marks, hair rubbed off with directional lacerations,,

and the VAST Majority of Moose and Mature elk in collisions with cars and pick up trucks walk or Crawl away from the accident scene, the VAST majority of cars and pick ups on the other hand tend to get TOWED away from collisions with mature Elk and Moose!

[eastkoot]

Im guessing sarcoptic mange. All the hair is rubbed and the lesions (scabby hide) are from constant rubbing from the itch..Caused by a nasty little mite.. A car collision, from what I have seen, is localized but not the whole animal..

[fester]

Mother Nature is brutal

That sure is the truth.

[SteadyGirl]

Nothing like getting dragged along under a vehicle for I'd say 50 feet or more.

[shotgunjohn]

I'm a dairy farmer who has seen mange and ticks and ringworm and also injury lacerations. I'm pretty sure this animal was dragged down a road. Possibly under a large truck? The interesting thing is that the damage is on both sides of the animal so it must have rolled and been dragged for some distance. Mother nature is brutal but man's machines can be as well.

[J_T]

Hey Clint.

If I came across that animal, I'd probably quite hunting elk.....

By the way, is that tree stand location you used last year available this coming season?

[JeremyCarrano302]

wouldn't a train turn it into hamburger?
cuz that's a big amount of steel going fast and to hit something would just vaporize it
but a semi on the other hand could do that amount of damage

[wolverine]

Yeah, by the look of things I would imagine that there's a truck someplace with a real buggered up bull bar on it. Poor thing, that wasn't an easy death. The tear tracks say it all. What a shame. :(

[GoatGuy]

Nothing like getting dragged along under a vehicle for I'd say 50 feet or more.

Sure it wasn't under 50 ft?

[doubled]

That is mother nature at her cruelest. This is reality folks and all the anithunters in the world can't say what we do is inhumane or brutal. Our methods are usually over within seconds, mother nature's takes days and even months.