Tick Season?

I was infested with them here in AL most of the summer. I was picking off my dogs everyday then about mid August they seemed to disapear.

I've never seen so many ticks at this point of the year here. My wife yanked 4 off my last week and I found 3 crawling on me on Tuesday this week. Lucky I got them before they bit in..

I found an adult female deer tick on me just a few weeks ago. I showed a pic of it on another thread. I already had Lyme once this year, so the doc gave me doxycycline as a prophylactic. Believe me, this disease is no fun. Protect yourselves or face a long recovery.

The bug is in the same family of bacteria that syphilis is in - spirochetes. It can easily get into your central nervous system. My primary said that while syphilis can take decades to get into the CNS, Lyme goes right for the brain. I don't know if it got into my brain, but I still ain't right 5 months later. Then again, some folks say I've never been quite right.

If you find one embedded in you, don't believe the CDC garbage about them needing to be on you for at least 36 hours for transmission to occur. That is only the opinion of a small and very biased panel of infectious disease docs, several of whom had known financial conflicts of interest at the time on their recommendations. Beside, who times the damn things? You find it and take it off ASAP.

Push the issue and get at least one 200 mg dose of doxy in you and hope for the best.

Jack Wagon said:

Found a tick crawling on me yesterday after cutting for about an hour. I guess your not safe in Nov. in Penna. Would have a pic but was driving when I found it. Almost as much fun as finding a bee in the cab.

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I have been lucky (not getting any ticks) in my three years of cutting, bought two bottles of this, just sprayed some clothes with this outside last week.


http://www.cabelas.com/product/Sawy...t=tick+spray&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products


zap

It seems the wet weather we have had has kept them at bay, but we have pulled several off our dogs recently. One of the nice things about freezing weather is it's the end of ticks for awhile.

I have been doing nothing but pullin them off teh dog and myself every night after a walk in the woods. two or three a day for him and abut the same (2 or 3 ) per week for me.

The high time for ticks in Pennsylvania is now and March. Period. Two sundays ago I took my dog for a two hour walk in the woods. 3 days later I pulled 42 ticks off of him. Probably 10-20 the first and second day each. The girl and me each had a few ticks on us.

Contrary to popular belief, the population peaks in early-middle spring and middle to late fall here in my part of Pennsylvania. I have spent considerable parts of my life outside for the last 10-15 years and this has always been the case.

I regularly find ticks after we have had hard frosts. It takes all-day cold to keep them inactive and I don't think cold, by itself, ever kills ticks. Eventually they become inactive as the fall turns to winter because of timing, the way black flies stop flying in late summer even though no weather came along to kill them. At least that is the impression i get.

This year there seem to be far fewer ticks here in my part of central PA than the past couple of years.

I didn't expect to find this on Hearth.com, but it's been something I've been thinking about for a while now. Even up here in NH I've been getting 1-2 ticks a day for the last few weeks. I know that the fall is prime tick season, but aren't we supposed to be done by mid(ish) November??

I had one crawling on me in the deer blind the other day. Usually not a problem for us unless they are coming off a deer carcass as it cools.


f v

I hadn't seen one all summer, then pulled 2 off my dog last week. Supposed to have a hard freeze tonight...hopefully that will take care of some of them.

Jack Wagon said:

Found a tick crawling on me yesterday after cutting for about an hour. I guess your not safe in Nov. in Penna. Would have a pic but was driving when I found it. Almost as much fun as finding a bee in the cab.

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Not safe in Michigan either - took part of one off last week, but head is still there.

If they are imbedded use tweezers and pull SLOWLY on the thorax or hard body parts not the abdomen. It will be a slow tug of war but eventually the tick will tire and let go. Burning with matches or other hot items will only cause them to spit when they release which they mormally do but pulling slowly where they get tired supposedly gets them out with out spitting. Never had Lymes but have had friends that have used the above (and medically suggested) pulling method. They were treated for lymes but never deveoped any symptoms. Maybe it was the early/preventative treatment or the removal method or both. Once snow flies and sticks rabbits are common carriers. There may be wisdom in rabbit stew.??

Cave2k said:

If they are imbedded use tweezers and pull SLOWLY on the thorax or hard body parts not the abdomen. It will be a slow tug of war but eventually the tick will tire and let go. Burning with matches or other hot items will only cause them to spit when they release which they mormally do but pulling slowly where they get tired supposedly gets them out with out spitting. Never had Lymes but have had friends that have used the above (and medically suggested) pulling method. They were treated for lymes but never deveoped any symptoms. Maybe it was the early/preventative treatment or the removal method or both. Once snow flies and sticks rabbits are common carriers. There may be wisdom in rabbit stew.??

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I use an OTOM tick puller. 2 sizes are in a pack. They look like minature cat paw nail pullers. Simply slide under the tick, start slowly turning with slight up pressure and the whole tick comes right out. Gets the head and all everytime. WWW.OTOM.COM.

The ticks population crashed here. I only picked two of them off me all Summer.

Had one of the little dear ticks on me the other day. I was in the woods dragging limbs that had fallen due to the NE snow storm. Of course it was 60 and sunny out, its November!

Wife had back/neck pain, leading to headaches for about 2 months....multiple visits to the Chiropractor.....finally a friend asked if she'd been tested for Lymes Disease....sure as hell, had severly elevated levels in her blood test....never saw a tick, never saw a tell-tale bullseye...now she wants me tested because of stiff joints and wearing down easily....I just think I'm gettin' old

I had 2 buggers crawling on me last weekend. I was not impressed.

I'm out i the woods every weekend. I don't see them on me.

My mother claims to find them all the time (she has a dog ), she's also gotten Lyme.


I have seen them in the past on a warm day in Jan /Feb. Same with mosquitos.

mbcijim said:

The high time for ticks in Pennsylvania is now and March. Period.

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I find the same here in NW Indiana. Where I grew up I rarely saw a tick. Now I seem to be surprised every March when the dog starts picking up ticks while the ground is still frozen, then surprised again in late October when all the other bugs are gone & suddenly the ticks are all over the place. Tough little buggers.
Close friends of ours' kid was diagnosed with Lymes Dis after having had it for maybe a year (docs estimated). He finally couldn't sit up without crying in pain. Anti-bios have him running around seemingly good as new now though. Lymes is sure no joke.

Up until a few years ago, the only time I ever saw a tick around here was the occasional one while skinning a deer. For the last three years my dad and I seem to get a few on us each year. Mostly while hunting in October, but also while mushroom hunting and shed hunting in the spring.
We've hunted the same area for decades and never had an issue before. Staff at the forest service office where we got wood permits even said that the ticks have really increased in the local area in recent years.

I rarely get one but we are still picking ticks off our golden retriever every few days just from letting her out in the yard to go bathroom.

We don't have them in Alaska--yet. I spent part of the summer in WI a few years back, went for a walk, and sat down in the woods to rest for awhile. Silly me. Must have had forty of the buggers crawling on me when I got back to the cabin. Freaky things. Gives me the shudders to remember.

snowleopard said:

We don't have them in Alaska--yet.

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I just looked out the window, and there is a brigade marching North - enjoy the time you have left without them :grrr: