Time for Ticks!!!!
Pennsylvania
Contributors to this thread:
The tick action was conspicuously nonexistent around here until the last week or two. Many folks were hoping the dry hot summer or some other reason was behind it, but I held out no such hope and noticed it gradually increasing. Yesterday, I put some miles on in perfect tick habitat and only saw two on my pants and they were looking to get away asap. My boots and jeans were treated with Sawyers Permethrin.
Today however, I went to the woods straight from work with my street clothes on, no protection, trying to stay on trails and avoid weeds and brush as much as possible, and still picked 15-20 ticks off of my pants... hoping I got them all. But I felt an odd, recurring itch on my right side as I drove home and found a tick dug in there when I looked closer. When I undressed to get a shower, I found another embedded a little deeper on the back of my neck.
This is just a friendly reminder. We're about to enter the second most active 'tick season' of the year. Don't dismiss it and don't take it lightly. I had Lyme pretty bad and trust me, you don't want any parts of it. Protect yourself. It's cheap and takes just a minute or two.
I'm going to get a new bottle or two of Sawyers tomorrow. Mine is almost empty. I KNOW that stuff works. I've watched them die right on my lap. Put it on your clothes and let it dry for a few hours before you wear them. Do NOT put it on your skin.
I know bowhunters try to stay scent free, but this isn't something to try to take a calculated risk with. Sawyers has a slight odor when first sprayed, but I can't smell anything once it's dried. It wouldn't hurt to put something with Deet in it on any exposed skin as well, and ALWAYS make sure to check yourself really good as soon as you get home from the woods. Ticks that have only been in you for a couple of hours come out a lot easier with less transfer of fluids and bacteria, and the longer they're in you, the greater the likelihood that they're transmit Lyme or one of it's coinfections into you. Get them out ASAP.
I'm going to put insecticide down in the yard around the dog fence tonight or tomorrow too.
Man, I hate them things.
Yupper Jeff, I pulled one off me Sunday night.
I buy permithrin at tractor supply in a 12 ounce bottle, put it in my mini spray gun and spray my boots and cloths. I didn't have my cloths sprayed last weekend when i got the tick.
From walking my dogs in the tick filled woods around my home, I have learned that the colder it gets the more ticks I remove.
My got one imbedded in her last week. Not, I get hell. I have to go straight to the basement & shower before going up stairs from now on! Whoa
I picked up a tick last week and didn't find it imbedded until the following morning.
Believe it or not, the tick twister that they sell in the pet stores works really well for tick removal (as advertised) even on humans!!!
Well worth the $.
Hate ticks! Had them dug into me twice this year already!!!!
Found a deer tick on my shoulder yesterday. Tiny but stuffed with blood. Last time in woods was Friday when I shot a buck. He was covered in them. Mostly dog ticks and some looked like black olives hanging off him. Have had a stiff neck and headache since Saturday so went to doctor. On an antibiotic regime now. Be careful out there.
I seen some but not near as many as last year, so far! And I'm in the tick hater club also.
What bugs me is that we never had them in northern Potter or Tioga years ago, now we do. Some places worse than others.
We did some woodcock hunting the other year, and we pulled 50-100 off the dog. Go 5 miles north and nothing.
In 57 years of living in southern Somerset Co I have seen a grand total of 1 tick. Maybe it's the altitude?
Sprayed down my pants and shirt with Sawyers yesterday. Interesting to see how it works in southeast Georgia. Hope I don't run into any chiggers. I also got snake boots, but hope I do not need those either.
Believe it or not, I have not picked one tick off me or my clothing this season. Can't remember when that ever happened before.
Brad, they're really bad at my camp in Wharton too.
Well ya jinx me Jeff, I found quite a few today. Same area I hunted last week and seen zero. One spot I hunt a quarter mile is all that's between a bazillion and none. Watch setting in the oaks, can really be bad. More mice, critters and deer I'm guessing.
Sorry about that Hawkeye :^/
We're just coming into their second peak of the year. Best to be prepared. I just put insecticide down in the back yard around the fence as a barrier for the dogs.
I won't go into the woods again without Permethrin on my clothes.... and even then I'm paranoid as heck.
found one embedded deep in my side the other day. all red around it. doc pulled it out and got some tetra. will be fine. tics don't normally get on me. I always figured it was due to the lymerix. was telling the doc that he said yeah. you were one of the originals to get it
was reading yesterday why they don't let humans use it anymore, yikes, there were people that had serious conditions from it. man, glad nothing happened for me
Bill, I had the Lymerix back in the day too. Still been treated with anti's 5 or 6 times since then "just in case". That stuff only had about a 50% effectiveness which is another reason they stopped it. I can't stand the buggers and usually after finding one on me I get the "tick shivers" for a week or so, which means I feel things crawling on me at all times of the day and night!!
Got cold and no problem with bugs or snakes in GA. I did manage to get a very nice 9 point today, but it was with a rifle.
I've seen ticks crawling on the snow during a sunny day. And the dog has also got them in the winter.. Congratulations Art.
The most ticks I recall seeing in Pa was 1st day of rifle, 2011, Huntingdon County. I had wool pants and walked through the pines to my stand. After dressing out the "big 8" (8-3/4" and 9-1/2" brow tines), I went back to get help to get it out. I pulled 32 little ticks off my wool pants! Needless to say, I stripped down and changed. I wore Carharts for retrieval, and they didn't seem to like the cotton.