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Tips To Deal With The Great Tick Invasion

I have used the same approach as Alan. For 15 years Kathleen and I have had as many as five sled dogs that we walk three times a day. During May, June and July, we remove wood ticks every walk, not just from the dogs, but also from ourselves. Sometimes 20-30 per walk. Just grab them between thumb and fore finger, at skin level, and carefully pull them out. We have done this thousands of times, always successfully. I have heard that sometimes the tick’s head separates, and stays imbedded with this technique. Never, ever happened to us.
 
scoutergriz said:
that's about the most dangerous thing you can do for a tick- preventing it from breathing is almost guaranteed to make it vomit into the wound, releasing any spirochetes it contains directly into your bloodstream.
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Okay, thanks, Scoutergriz. It's been many a year since I've done it. I haven't researched this recently.
 
Pseudonym said:
We're a small island with a deer density of about 50 deer per square mile and accordingly the island is loaded with ticks. So much so that the Red Cross doesn't even bother with blood drives out here because the incidence of tick borne illness is so high.
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Pseudonym said:
for that very reason we have the longest hunting season in the state because there are no other predators on island.
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Are there any proposals or discussions to simply eliminate all the deer?
 
As I have dug into what they know about long term issues with some tick bites the stories get too hard to follow. So many ailments may be from untested aspects of what a tick can do to your body.
 
Glenn MacGrady said:
Are there any proposals or discussions to simply eliminate all the deer?
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Pseudonym said:
Practically speaking, there are too many people who are fond of the deer.
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Monhegan Island in Maine implemented the zero-deer solution, and it works. However it's a tiny community. Building consensus for that in a more populous area would be pretty hard. We can all blame Bambi. Here's a review paper on the subject:


Hunting can control the population in truly rural places but a lot of woodsy suburbia is excellent deer habitat but too settled for hunting. So some hunters wander all over the woods looking for a deer (with antlers, unless they won the lottery), meanwhile their neighbors back in town are posting pictures of deer at their backyard "bird" feeders.

Now, couldn't Disney have made a tear-jerker flick about a coyote pup? Here in Maine they are specifically excluded from the "wanton waste" rules, you can treat them like cockroaches.
 
(with antlers, unless they won the lottery)
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Not to stray too far off-subject but Maine restricts doe hunting? Here in PA, I can get one buck tag but doe tags are practically unlimited (as are the deer).

I've never seen a recipe for horn soup and, on the farms I hunt, they want deer dead so I usually shoot mature does exclusively. Eliminates 3 deer (next spring) with 1 bullet and they are better eating than bucks any way.

As for ticks: I'm a bit of a tick magnet so, IMO, prevention is key. Lots of deet an clothing, hot shower asap and never slather anything around imbedded ones. I've broken off a few heads pulling them with no ill effects but don't make them disgorge all stomach contents in order to release.
 
Gamma1214 said:
Not to stray too far off-subject but Maine restricts doe hunting? Here in PA, I can get one buck tag but doe tags are practically unlimited (as are the deer).

I've never seen a recipe for horn soup and, on the farms I hunt, they want deer dead so I usually shoot mature does exclusively. Eliminates 3 deer (next spring) with 1 bullet and they are better eating than bucks any way.
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Yep, in Maine anyone with a license can take one buck, but you need to be lucky to get a doe permit. They want to keep the population up. You can't hunt over bait, but you can feed them for the heck of it. This is the northern extent of their historical range so back in the day a snowy winter would bring their numbers down, but we have less snow and more human food support these days.
 
goonstroke said:
a lot of woodsy suburbia is excellent deer habitat but too settled for hunting
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Yes, we're such a small island that you can't even hunt deer with a rifle because the bullets can travel too far. There's a bow season, primitive arms season and shotgun season (slugs only). If you have a doctor's note for physical disability, you can use a cross bow.
 
Back to the topic, just got back from a 4 day trip. Ticks apparently were thick as buddy was pulling an average of 6 ticks/day off himself.

I never had a single one. Only difference was I soaked my clothes in Permethrin a day before the trip. Guess this turned out to be an experiment showing this stuff really works.
 
Blukanu said:
Back to the topic, just got back from a 4 day trip. Ticks apparently were thick as buddy was pulling an average of 6 ticks/day off himself.

I never had a single one. Only difference was I soaked my clothes in Permethrin a day before the trip. Guess this turned out to be an experiment showing this stuff really works.
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you have a choice when you purchase Permethrin. You can buy a .5% 18oz Sawyer spray can from Walmart (and elsewhere) for about $11+tax, or you can go to Tractor Supply and go the the animal insecticide section and buy a 10% 8 oz Gordons bottle and a cheap plastic empty spray bottle for about the same price. Dillute the Gordons with water 19 to one ( or to whatever ratio you like) and you will have the same 0.5% concentration. Spray your clothing (not your skin) and let dry before wearing. The TSC bottle will last you for years., the Sawyer treats 4 outfits.
Gordone Permethrin concentratre.jpgSawyer permethrin spray can.jpg
 
I never see ticks where I live now, so I have forgotten how it was to live further north.

And you all have now reminded me. I am going camping in the Catskills next week. :oops:

I guess I need to take some tick measures
 
Permethrin is golden, but keep the cats away from it.

On a recent trip out west I came by this herd of easy meat while out for a morning bike ride through suburban streets. They were so tame I had to chase them away. The driver in the car opposite thanked me for doing so. This was in Silicon Valley, maybe if some rich tech titan gets lyme we'll see some R&D on tickborne diseases.

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You will have much the same experience in Old Forge NY, where the deer seemingly without any care or caution walk the roadways and lawns without a care in the world, to the delight of tourists visiting from city locations. It has been said with tongue in cheek that those deer are on the payroll of the village Chamber of Commerce. Some residents continue to feed deer in all seasons, thinking they are doing them a favor, but that is untrue and ultimately harmful to the deer, and is actually an illegal activity punishable by a fine from the NYSDEC.
 
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I'm sure I've had Lyme at some point. The testing is dicey at best; a negative result doesn't necessarily mean you don't have it or haven't had it. (The science behind that is beyond me.)
I have one friend with alpha-gal, which doesn't bother her too much, and had another friend so deeply affected by Lyme that she had to quit her job and spent two years recovering. She's a yoga teacher, distance cyclist, and pilates instructor - so about as physically fit as a person can be. Lyme still laid her on her butt for a very long time.
I don't do permethrin (yet) but I have started carrying bug spray with at least 25% DEET, which I did not bother with for much of my life.

Off-topic edit - In most Virginia counties we do Earn-a-buck: you can kill two antlered deer per year, but before you kill your second you are required by law to kill at least one doe. We got a LOT of deer, and the ones walking up and down my parent's suburban street are generally bigger than any deer I'll see in the woods.
 
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MyKneesHurt said:
Off-topic edit - In most Virginia counties we do Earn-a-buck: you can kill two antlered deer per year, but before you kill your second you are required by law to kill at least one doe. We got a LOT of deer, and the ones walking up and down my parent's suburban street are generally bigger than any deer I'll see in the woods.
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Yep, turn those disease vectors and hosta-eaters into food! Reducing the number of does is the key to population control.
 
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