I've read about this quest, and it sounds like you are supposed to get another quest in chapter 2 called "Snapper Hunt," and during the course of this quest you are told about a "leader of the pack" that will drop the required claws when killed.

But I've completed Snapper Hunt and never heard anything about a leader, nor do I have the claws for the other quest.

I've also read that unless you speak to Bilgot *during* the progress of Snapper Hunt, you won't be told about the leader and it won't spawn. If that's the case, then it sounds like I'm screwed.

Pretty poor game design, unless it's a bug. Now I have a quest hanging in my journal that can never be resolved. I've also read that a bug in chapter 4 prevents you from reentering the Valley of Mines if you haven't completed Snapper's Claws, but I don't know if this is true. I don't see why it would matter.

Anyway, has anyone else run into this situation? Is there something I can still do to get Bilgot to tell me about it? Right now the only dialogue option is "END." He doesn't talk about being escorted out of the VoM either, which apparently is another quest I can't get now either.

Thanks.

I don't think this is a bug. It is simply, as you rightfully put it, poor game design. Because players need to know in advance what they have to do here, and in what order.

Once the "Snapper Hunt" quest has been completed, there is no way to also complete the "Snapper's Claws" quest other than through Marvin mode and the console.
Go to some place away from the camp (best maybe the small tower where the pack leader was supposed to spawn anyway), type "bmarvinb", then "F2", then "insert newmine_leadsnapper". Kill the pack leader, take the claws (no skill needed) and type "b42b" to leave Marvin mode. This should make sure you can complete the "Snapper's Claws" quest by handing it in to Lutero.

Although I don't think there is much of a chance, I'd still suggest you speak to Bilgot again in order to see whether the killing of that snapper affected his dialogue options in any way. If not so, save, cast first a Sleep spell and a little later an Oblivion spell on him. Check his dialogue options again.

As mentioned, I'm not very hopeful that Bilgot may be "reset" with these in-game means. If they won't work and you absolutely wish to do his quest, let me know and I'll try to find out if there's a way to get to it via savegame variable editing.