Is Mange Becoming a Problem for Elk Herds in Southwest Montana?

Whether it’s through wildlife watchers in Yellowstone Park posting shaggy elk pics to social media, hunters and outfitters documenting their slightly balding harvests, or shed hunters finding dead animals in the spring, mange has become a hot-button issue with Southwest Montana’s elk lovers. This is especially true around the Greater Yellowstone Area, where it seems like more infected animals are turning up.

Mange is a skin disease caused by parasitic mites that causes severe hair loss in almost all mammals (including humans). It comes in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, depending on the species of the mite, with each type of bug affecting specific species. Some species of mange, such as the sarcoptic species that infects canines, can be deadly. However, the species that infects elk is psoroptic mange, which is similar to scabies in humans and only kills the host on extremely rare occasions. Yet when it comes to elk, psoroptic mange can still hurt the animals in other ways.

“When elk with mange die, it’s generally not from the mange itself,” says Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Wildlife Veterinarian Jennifer Ramsay. “Infected animals get really irritated and rub and itch, removing enough of their hair so that they die from exposure. Elk infected with mange also burn more calories than they normally would as they fight the infection, meaning that they must eat more to stay healthy. This can lead to death from starvation in areas with limited food sources. In addition, mange can affect an elk’s immune system, and usually when we find a dead elk with mange, we also find pneumonia and other illnesses that contributed to their demise.”

While it does seem to be on the rise, mange in elk is nothing new to the state of Montana or the West in general, as its presence has been long documented, with outbreaks occurring in different areas on a semi-annual basis.

“Mange occurs all over Western states, and it’s been around for a very long time,” Ramsay told MeatEater. “If you go back in historical documents, you will find that it’s much more widespread than initially believed. There are places where we’ve had it for a long time, and infection rates just seem to cycle up and down a bit. Some years we don’t see it much at all, and other years it’s quite apparent and obvious. In my position since 2008, it’s been a regular occurrence and records down in the Jackson Hole area have been documenting cases since the 1880s, so mange isn’t anything new to the elk population of the West.”

Despite its long documented presence, the recent infection rate in Southwest Montana’s elk population seems to be on the rise. This has caused many folks who love and depend on elk for their livelihood and as a food source to become concerned.

For elk hunters and outfitters who depend on the animals to both fill their freezers and to keep them in business, the number of elk infected with mange in the region has become alarming.

“I feel like seeing mangy elk has become a regular thing and it never used to be,” says elk guide Jesse Banthem, owner of SJ Outfitters in Livingston, Montana. “We’ve been noticing it more and more over the past 10 years. It used to just be the odd older bull infected, but I’m starting to see mange in cows and younger, otherwise healthy animals. It really worries me because if we want elk around for our kids and grandkids to hunt and just to see, it feels like something needs to be done about it.”

Elk hunters have blamed a number of factors for the apparent increase of mange in Montana’s elk, citing everything from the presence of infected wolves to mild winters as the cause. However, as different types of mange are species-specific and generally don’t jump ship to infect other animals, the idea of wolves infecting elk with mange is entirely unfounded.

Unlike ticks and other parasites that will die off in cold weather, mange mites can generally survive through cold winters unless there’s a sustained extreme freeze. However, one issue that hunters and outfitters are pointing towards may in fact be part of the cause of the increased infection: mega herds.

“It all seems to coincide with the time elk started getting into these mega herds,” Banthem told MeatEater. “Back in the day we had more elk then than we have now, but they were more spread out. Now, between public land hunting pressure, land development, etc., it seems like the elk are just gathering on top of one another in places where they feel safe, and it’s causing a huge problem.”

It is true that these various factors have caused elk to gather in larger herds than they had previously, especially on private lands with readily available food sources.

“In the past, there were places on private land or in restricted areas where we’d see herds of 200 or 300 elk gathering up during the winter,” says hunting guide Eric Strader, owner of Greater Yellowstone Outfitters. “Now those same spots will have 1,000 head of elk or more all gathered on haystacks or alfalfa fields or what have you. With all these animals in the same place like that, you’d have to think that’s at least part of the reason we’re seeing more animals with mange.”

Psoroptic mange can be spread through close, skin-to-skin contact. With so many elk being in the same place at the same time, it is very possible that the rise of these “mega herds” may be a contributing cause to the rise of mange in Southwest Montana.

“Mange mites live on the surface of the skin on an infected animal,” says Jennifer Ramsay. “They’re not like fleas that jump around. They can only be spread by close direct contact with infected animals, though they can survive on the ground without a host for a certain amount of time. So, other animals can pick them up from bedding sites and, as mange is extremely itchy, often fence posts, trees, and other things the infected elk scratch them on can transfer the mange infection to the next animal if they come into contact with the same object soon enough.”

When it comes down to it, there are a lot of factors that contribute to the rise of mange in Southwest Montana’s elk. Little is known about how or why the number of infected animals seems to increase or decrease from one year to the next.

“It’s probably not one single factor but rather multiple contributing factors,” Ramsay told MeatEater. “Mange has been around for a long time, but infection rates vary from year to year, and it’s extremely hard to predict. Some animals may carry the disease and not show any symptoms at all, but there are factors that cause animals to develop a more severe and obvious case. We have found that extremely stressed and injured elk are prone to developing a worse case of the dermatitis that people can see, but even a healthy, relaxed elk can still be an asymptomatic animal.”

Many wonder why elk can’t be vaccinated against mange to prevent the spread. After all, there are vaccines and other drugs that are used to control similar types of psoroptic mange in cattle and other livestock. However, using these drugs on an entirely wild elk herd effectively just isn’t possible.

“People have done some experimental treatments in the past with the drugs used in livestock,” Ramsay told MeatEater. “The trouble with this is a one-time dose is not good enough to kill the infection, and with an elk herd containing asymptomatic carriers, you would have to treat the whole herd annually to even make a dent, which just isn’t realistic. In addition, when you begin vaccinating wildlife, you have to worry about drug residues and stuff like that, so it’s not really a solution.”

However, Jennifer and other wildlife biologists believe that finding a solution to mange in elk isn’t currently necessary. For while there has been a rise in cases of mange in elk, it hasn’t affected the overall population and poses no threat to elk hunters.

“As far as we know, while there are good years and bad years, mange has had little effect on the elk population,” Ramsay said. “Overall, our elk in Southwest Montana are very healthy. We see mange, hoof rot, and pneumonia outbreaks on occasion, but nothing so bad that it concerns us, and it shouldn’t concern elk hunters as much as other issues such as CWD.”

So if you kill a mangy elk, can you still eat it?

“While it may be unappetizing, you can still eat an elk with mange, as it has no effect on the meat unless the animal has visible open sores that indicate a bacterial infection,” Ramsay said. “So infected elk are perfectly safe to harvest, and it can even help remove infected animals from the population.”

So, while mange may look ugly to Southwest Montana’s elk hunters, the fact is that it’s been around for a long time and the elk will deal with it as they always have.

“We’ve known mange has been on this landscape for years and we see it more often some years and less some years,” says Montana Wildlife Biologist Julie Cunningham.

“We see it more often in bulls, but cows can still get it. Animal density and stress generally contribute to a rise in mange, and in the past couple years cases have been frequent, but the fact is, they’ve been frequent for a long time. Mange has never been uncommon in this area, and we’ve been monitoring animals for years with it. Often, one hard winter will wipe out the infected animals, and the disease will disappear entirely, at least for a few years. So, while it may look bad right now, there is no reason for people to worry, our elk are doing just fine and will bounce back as they always do.”

In the end, there are a lot more reasons to be concerned for Southwest Montana’s elk herds than just mange. The growing popularity of elk hunting, combined with more people moving into the area, has caused elk to be put under a lot of pressure and has forced the animals into smaller and smaller habitats.

So, while little can be done about the disease itself, perhaps the rise in mange cases will help elk advocates realize the effect that land development and hunting pressure may be having on the elk. Hopefully, it will cause all of us, hunters and wildlife agencies alike, to collectively take a step back and look at how we are managing elk so that we can then come together and help ensure that Montana’s elk remain perennial contenders that stay on top for years to come.

Feature images via Rose Kaiotii.