Trad Gang

My son and I had our recurves out Saturday (hoping to cause some trouble amongst the groundhog population).  We saw one whitetail but no groundhogs, alas.

What we did se was more ticks that I have ever seen in my life.  In the past if I found a couple of ticks on me, I considered it a bad day.  I'm not exagerating - I bet we picked 50 each off of our pants, shirts, necks and so on.

Has anyone else noticed an extraordinary number of the little vampires this year?  I can't even imagine sitting still for a bit waiting for a groundhog with all of that.

Funky!

They seem to be bad the past few years here. I spray from my knees to boots with Deet, before I go in the woods.

Seed ticks are the worst. I've felt them explode on my legs wearing shorts before. Nasty and so small you can barely see them. I give them the DEET treatment to kill them and then scrape them off. These little seed ticks can live on a pair of boots for weeks.

John III

Were these little teeny tiny baby ticks?
I usually find at least a nest of these per year. Not fun. It really makes me think twice about cutting through the fields! I hate wearing repellents.

Killdeer  

Yes my son and myself went pond fishing and where covered in ticks.

I've run into nests of thoes tiny baby seed ticks.They start out as a small brown spot about the size of a quarter that contains hundreds of them.I wear long pants and keep an eye out for them.If you catch a patch before they spread you can torch them with a Bic.

Yucky.  The ones we saw weren't tiny - they were regular sized deer ticks but tons of the critters.

I tried to get my son to let me shoot one off of his head a la William Tell but he was having none of it.  Some kids!

Today we went to the Olde Fartes tournament. the ticks were awful. I've figured that they just drink the repelent.   Skyler W

Give your clothes a good dose of Permanone repellent before you put them on.  This stuff will kill a tick.  It is hot but I almost always wear jeans when I'm out in the weeds, not shorts.

Dennis

I have had more then usual so far this year. we have also had a heap of Lyme tests at work that have been positive.

What Aeronut said. I dose jeans,long sleeve shirt,tie the bottom of pants legs around the boots & spray the boots with Permanone. Don't take any chances.

Turn your pants cuffs inside out for 10 inches or so. Spray them pretty good with Permanone ahead of time so it dries before you wear them. Use deet on exposed skin. This works pretty good for me. I wonder how the Native Americans dealt with this problem?

I'll bet Native Americans just stayed inside the tee
pee when the bugs got bad.
If they had to go out they would just cover themselves up with mud.

yes. They're as bad as I've ever seen this year in Indiana

Pretty bad in WV this year.  I was in the field for work the other week and picked 17 off of me.  Had them still crawling around on me when I got back to the office.

Aaron

They are bad here in Wv also.I wounder if the birds are filling up on the cicadas.I cant remember seeing  robin with a worm since the cicadas came out.

They're bad everywhere... and gonna get worse.  They must hitchike into my yard on the multitudes of rabbits we have.  I must have picked off more than a hundred so far this year.  What bothers me the most is when they attempt to take up residency along with the family jewells... heck, I'm starting to itch just thinking about it.

Lots of ticks here as well, but that's nothing unusual for Manitoba at this time of the year. They come in the spring and go away when it gets hot out. I find they're worst in tall grass and around poplar and similar tree's. I'm not talking deer ticks, but the larger garden variety, lol. I take colloidal silver regularly...it's my belief that they find it distasteful as I haven't had one stuck to me in years. I was out walking last weekend, and picked 20 or so off myself several times, and found none attached. I'm wondering if some of the silver based scent suppressing sprays would work if sprayed on a persons boots and pant legs....anyone have an experience trying this?

tick collars for dogs around the tops of my boots seem to work.

Now there's one creature I wouldn't mind going extinct.  Please.

Been real bad here in the Nor'East - ticks are everywhere and worse yet they're now all around our homes let alone in the neighboring woods.

BuckWIng makes an ankle gaiter that is just the ticket for ticks.  It is made out of the same type of material that ace bandages are made of.  It slips on over your pant leg and boot top and keeps the little blood suckers out. I have been using them for years.  THey also keep laces tied and prevent your laces and cuffs from getting beggar lice and other seeds on them.

I ordered a special dog collar for the bird dog that seems to help, but she still gets 'em

I got a couple deer ticks on me up in Tennesse a couple weeks ago.  They were so small I didn't see them until the next day. As they were embedded, I went to the doctor.  The upshot is that for the first time in over 40 yrs of hunting and fishing I ended up with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, detected by blood test. I was on Docicycline for 14 days and that took care of it.  If you get bit, get checked because the symptoms don't come on right away.  I had no lasting side effects due to the doctor catching it quickly.

Bill

Here in the mountains of Western NC they are as bad as I have seen in the 18 years since I moved here. I bet I pick at least 10 a day off my chocolate lab, Lucy Brown and find a few each day walking on me and my wife. Where are the guinea fowl when you need them!       Pat

we get these tiny ticks in south africa we call "pepper ticks" small black or light brown little guys and they are bad news.
i got nailed by them a few years ago and did not sleep for 3 days , had hundreds of bites on me and they are sore and itchy but if you scratch them they blister up!    :mad:  as i said NOT GOOD!

is there a tick preditor that is missing- like due to west nile or something? I know honey bees are not having their greatest day.. and one person mentioned cicadas filling bird bellies-- but is there a tick predator out there that we need to encourage?

I have seen deer feeders with paint rollers coated with insecticide to force the deer to be exposed to tick and other bug killers.

Is the tick problem in relation to increases in deer herds; or perhaps because of the increase of 'no hunting-no tresspassing' signs????

That's a good question about the tick predators.  Something really seems out of whack at the moment and, based on the (admittedly small sample of) replies here, I'm not the only one noticing it.

Ticks were pretty bad here in WI this spring for turkey season.  We'd just expect to pick 20-25 or so off us(our clothes mostly) per day in the woods.  Had my first run in with a deer tick also.  Retched little creatures, but I'd rather have them than mosquitoes.

This has been absolutely the worst year for ticks in my area. It started at Land Between the Lakes Rec.area during Spring turkey season. That place has always had a tick problem.I literally quit hunting there early they were so bad. I hike with a backpack on regularly in the woods near the house. It is a regular hiking/equestrian trail maintained by the US Park Service(Natchez Trace Parkway). I had to quit taking the dog with me because of the amount of ticks she was getting on her. BUT I've quit too, I am covered with the small seed ticks along with the larger ticks. I've gone to bicycling to stay prepared for the upcoming elk hunt out West. I've NEVER seen the amount of ticks as this year in all parts of TN. Even when I was in the Smokies last week flyfishing I was picking up ticks while hiking the well used trails to the river,not as many but several big spotted ticks were on the socks.

I was doing some chainsaw work in northern TN close to the KY line.  Got home and found about 25-30 deer ticks on me.  Pulled them off with no trouble.  They had been on me less than 4 hours.  About 5 days later, I started having fevers and headaches.  Tried to push my way through it for a few days.  Just got worse and worse.  Finally had to go to the emergency room.  They admitted me to the hospital with a 104 fever.  Finally diagnosed me with ehrlichiosis.  I had never heard of it, but it is a tick born disease that will hammer your liver.  They kept me 4 days, and I am still taking antibiotics.

I am a firm believer in permanone, but this day my bottle was empty.  Lesson learned the HARD way.

A natural tick predator is the Guinea Fowl.  A friend has a bunch of 'em and I've seen these birds actually hunt the ticks voraciously.

Guinea Fowl and ticks (http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/ticks/)

Guinea Fowl (http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/)

There have been a lot more than usual around here as well (southern Ontario)the past few years. I work at a nature reserve and we are thinking it could be because of the explosion in the deer population? Whatever the reason, it sucks, those things creep me out.
Shane

I am thinking from the standpoint of the weather this winter we experienced ( deep cold for a long time - it snowed on the 13th of this month here) ..

But was there a difference in the weather where you guys are that are seeing more ticks over the winter etc??

Guinea fowl running all over would be cool.  :)

Yea there so thick here in arkansas that they will jump ten feet to get on you and if your out of range they'll throw a handful of chiggers on you.  :D

:biglaugh:  Now where have I heard that before??

My guess of why the ticks & other blood suckers are so numerous is the lack of wildfires . From the Great Plains to Florida ( where I live ) many plants need fire to propagate & the soil has much more nutrients after a fire . Furthermore it also keeps invasive animals & especially plants numbers in check from totally wiping out endemic species of flora & fauna.

What say u guys ?

I would think fire plays a role.Years ago everyone burned off their land every spring around here.Not anymore though,too much risk of lawsuit.

I experimented a little on a tick once.I froze one in a Dixie cup for a few weeks.He was inside the ice.When I thawed him out,he tried to crawl away.Cold weather may keep them from reproducing as much but I don't think it kills them.

I brought about ten of those little suckers home with me from the Tenn Classic. Thats after i thought i got all of them! I've still got a few places on me itchin where i pulled them off. I've never seen ticks this bad before in my lifetime, and i use to be a logger years ago.

okay, I guess I better share this tick joke I just got:

Tick Warning!
I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it
myself a couple times unintentionally...but this one is real, and it's
important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks
due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance
around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only
want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

Well us southern boyz have always had to deal with them...I use deet spray from my knees to my toes , I where long socks then spray inside and outside my jeans...but I hear up north is worst...not: I pray for all in path of the floods along the Mississippi river...God spare them ....marco