One month before his foot looked fine, then not so good. Any thoughts of what is wrong and what his long term prognosis may be? Thanks in advance for your help.

Either stepped on something that got into his foot or got bitten by something like a snake??

Should be fine and chances are he is back to normal by now.

Snake bite or might have got it hung in a fence.

Foot or Hoof Rot possibly is what it looks like to me.

that was what i initially thought it could be. Hubbards creeks about 50 yards away and there tends to be lots of mud/standing water around that feeder.
What is the long term prognosis for that? I think i remember it not being good.

He will either die from infection or starvation/dehydration... whichever comes first.

If its a snake bite the only snake around there that would do that is a rattlesnake and he would be more swollen further up his leg imo..

well that escalated quickly. poor guy.

Since all the shots are from last year the question is have you seen any recent pics of him?
If he is still around and still has some sort of injury you could well see some sort of malformation of the antler on the opposite side of where the injury is; i.e. since his right hoof is injured his left antler might bear some malformation.

1st thing I thought too. Fence usually does more damage and it is generally the back feet. Have treated it once in a cow we had. Found and excerpt on the BH forum. Sounds like it isn't a definite "death sentence in the wild for deer.

""here's what I found out from the Biologist:

It's been diagnosed as "Hoof Rot" - Fusabacterium

It's prevalent in wet years and exists in the soil. It tends to be a 1 year issue then subsides for a while due to deer tolerance.

He doesn't recommend eating a deer with it. (although he was told that it wasn't dangerous to eat)

It's sometimes fatal, but often deer make it through. It's a case by case basis.

Common in cattle and other hooved animals. I haven't done the research yet, but he said he has heard that copper sulfate sprayed on the ground will kill the bacteria in the ground.

It can be communicated from deer to deer.""

Full thread here:
http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185358

Western hit the nail on the head, I see it often in free range deer, but tends to be isolated to certain areas. I deal with it every year with penned whitetail. Copper Sulfate didnt work for me, havent found a good cure yet other than meds. Its sad thing to see, get in there jaw line and other joints as well.

It's a slow healing process..seems it'll mess with their horns until they're fully healed.

Hoof rot does not start from standing or nasty water as you would think. I have seen it in flooding years and drought years. From what I understand it is a bacteria that is in the soil. Bucks seem to be the worst at getting it IME due to their fighting during the rut. They sustain hoof cuts and the bacteria gets into the cut causing the infection. I have seen bucks with one hoof, two hooves and even three of their hooves with it. Usually with 2-3 hooves infected they do not survive. It appears to be very painful to them and they loose a lot of weight. I have seen a few deer (less than 25% of those infected) survive it. Most have a deformed rack the next year. Some grow a decent rack that next year. It seems that if they get it once and survive there is a good chance they will get it again for some reason or they never fully get over it.

I have seen more of it in deer in pastures than in pens. If they get it bad enough the bones in the hoof will soften and actually sluff off. It hit Colorado and Lavaca Counties real bad a few years ago. The TPWD biologist spent a lot of time researching it and wrote an article on it for the local Coops that was in their magazine back then.

club foot...

I had a deer that had a foot just like that in Sonora. When I first saw him he was a 135" 10 point. I figured he would be easy to keep track of with the club foot and I was anxious to see what he turned into the next year. October of the next year I was in my Bow stand and he showed up. I could not believe what he was. He went from a 135" 10 point to a 75" 7 point. I don't know if the injury did it or what but it was amazing that he dropped that much. He had also lost about 50 pounds of body weight. I told the landowner about it and showed him pictures of the deer before and after. He told me if I saw him again to kill him, so I did. I don't think he would have survived the winter anyway.

Whatever it is it's infected and not good

7 month old pictures, hard to tell what he'll be like now, may even be a non-issue if he's dead. Wouldn't worry too much about it.