Bowsite.com

Just came across Tickencounter.org, which has some great information about tick ID, life cycles, prevention, etc. The guy who runs it thinks it's going to be a very bad year for ticks in MA.

Most surprising thing was the link up top, which says how effective and relatively safe permethrin is. I have a bottle but was reluctant to use it because I was afraid it would come in contact with my skin and do some damage but it seems way safer than I thought. Reality is, the stuff ticks can carry is probably way more dangerous than the super low exposure of permethrin.

"A 140-pound person would have no adverse health effects if exposed to 32 grams of permethrin/day. There is less than 1 gram of permethrin in an entire bottle of clothing treatment."

That stat sounds a little weird overall though. 32 grams is a ton when talking about doses of things. Taking that much vitamin C would not kill you but would make you sick as hell for a little while. Seems weird, makes me wonder if it's a math glitch, or description gone wrong - like 3.2grams but the period was missed in editing or something?

It is more easily absorbed into the skin when in liquid form hence the warning to wear gloves when dipping. If ya sweat though with dipped clothes,.. ? That's why for like my hat, I sprayed it.

Remember this company (link) sells clothes with this stuff baked into them, lasts much longer than dipping (70 washes, or life of the clothes vs 6 for a dip),.. may not transfer to you as easily to you also? Clothing package is like 89 bucks for shirt hat pants.

Edit: I just noticed this year they have a turkey hunting set up for 129.00. I am looking to get more of their stuff. It is just so much easier than dipping and redipping after 6 washes,.. I did my first dip recently on things like my Turkey vest. It was a pain.

The Gamehide stuff is just plain old easy, and works, no hassle.

I use this stuff religiously during turkey season and deer season. I use Sawyers because you can buy a big bottle. It stays on clothes for a number of washes and works like a charm. Put it on, let the clothes dry and you are good to wear them. Just don't put them on until they are dry. It is actually pretty interesting to watch ticks crawl on you clothes and see them start to shake and fall off. It works by blocking the chemical that breaks down a chemical that stimulates nerves to fire, so essentially all their nerves fire and dont stop. I have looked at a lot of the scientific literature on it and it has a good safety profile. Keep it away from your pets, because it works across species, but we are just safe because it is at such low relative dose compared to our body size. As such, it could definitely make smaller pets unwell and I have read that it is particularly bad for cats.

As someone already mentioned, given the nasty stuff ticks carry, I am willing to take the chance that it may not be 100% healthy, but I can only imagine it is better than applying deet all over your skin.

Once it dries, I don't notice any scent and I usually through my gear in an ozone generator anyways. Even after the ozone treatment I still see its effect on ticks, so presumable ozone doesn't break it down.

in fact, my second passion is Obstacle Course Racing where there is a lot of trail running, crawling through grass, etc etc...so I now spray down all my tech fabrics with it as well.

hunterma, I didn't even know there was different versions, I just buy the spray bottle from dicks.

BTW...lawn companies also use it to treat properties I believe.

the stuff works guys, use it.

Puts things in perspective haha. Especially with how harmful antibiotics can be if you do get bit. Thanks for the good input everyone.

Gonna be cold first day of Turkey,. showing 34 out my way,.. burr!

Point being - USE the stuff.

Will

Pic attached just for fun...... worked on setting up one of my new spots. Love it when the wife and dog are pitching in and marking branches for me. Over 20 feet with just four Steps. The aiders attached to my feet are money. I am up in minutes on any tree.

While watching North Woods Law i saw the GameHide anti tick clothing logo on the wardens shirt.

The trick to killing disease-carrying ticks may lie in building a better mouse trap.

Deer are often blamed for carrying the diseases, such as Lyme, that ticks spread to humans, but research has shown mice and other rodents are far more effective hosts for the insects.

So scientists have been testing a device made by a small Connecticut company that tricks ordinary wild mice into becoming tick-killing machines, offering what some researchers think could be the best hope for controlling the ticks spreading dangerous, even fatal, diseases across an ever-broadening portion of the United States.

The Select TCS Tick Control System is a commercially available box researchers are deploying in field studies, and results suggest the box could control tick populations without the environmental and health concerns typically associated with covering areas in pesticides.

The boxes are a variation on the "bait boxes" exterminators use to lure and catch mice and rodents. However, instead of luring and containing the rodents or killing them with bait, these "tick boxes" are booby-trapped with a piece cloth soaked in insecticide that the animals are forced to come in contact with as they enter and leave the box.

Mice, and other small animals then become walking lethal traps for ticks, but are not harmed themselves — the insecticide used in these studies is the same kind used in anti-tick medications for household pets.

A study published this month in the Journal of Medical Entomology showed tick numbers on several properties in New Jersey dropped by 97 percent in 2014, after two separate 9-week tick box treatments in the prior two years. It is the latest of several studies, often sponsored by or done in collaboration with the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The box, is made by a small Connecticut company called Tick Box Technology Corporation. David Whitman, who owns the company as well as a collection of pest control businesses with his twin brother Richard, told CNBC he had worked on the development of the box from the very beginning, circa the year 2000.

There is anecdotal evidence that patients have contracted Lyme disease on Corkscrew Island and the surrounding area. These patients developed multiple clinical symptoms indicative of Lyme disease, including progressive arthritis, neurological deficits, and profound fatigue. Of medical significance, Scrimenti 38 described an erythematous rash on a patient (a physician), who was bitten by a tick while grouse hunting in the fall of 1969 in Wisconsin; he represents the first recognized case of Lyme disease in North America in modern history. The attached tick was most likely an I. scapularis female because American dog ticks (D. variabilis) do not quest in October in this geographic area.

Based on accumulated degree-days and the placement of I. scapularis ticks in outdoor housing units, Lindsay et al. 39 postulated that the climate in the Kenora District, Ontario was not warm enough for I. scapularis to survive and become an established population. These researchers stated that I. scapularis would be limited to areas of Ontario south of an imaginary line between North Bay and Thunder Bay, and westward to the Rainy River District, which is south of Kenora. Conversely, our study clearly shows that there are adequate degree-days for I. scapularis to thrive on Corkscrew Island. In the present study, blacklegged tick adults were winter hardy for 3 consecutive winters (2014, 2015, 2016). What was once considered by some researchers as a hostile environment for I. scapularis has turned out to be one of the most hyper endemic areas for Lyme disease in Canada.

Blacklegged ticks have an innate ability to withstand weather extremes 40. Based on historical annual weather data, the maximum extreme high at Kenora was recorded at 36ºC, whereas the minimum extreme low was -44ºC. The normal accumulated snow cover is 22 cm (Environment Canada). Blacklegged ticks are adapted to these conditions because they have antifreeze-like compounds (glycoproteins) in their bodies 41. Since sub-zero, ambient air temperatures prevail at Corkscrew Island throughout the winter, I. scapularis can survive in the leaf litter under an insulating blanket of snow. During hot summer days, they descend into the cool, moist leaf litter, and re-hydrate. Based on our studies, harsh ambient air temperatures are not a limiting factor in the survival of I. scapularis in the Kenora District.

I agree that a low-cost solution is favorable for our domestic space's. I believe the metal box system was developed after learning that squirrels were getting to the bait that was intended to lure the mouse past the treated material. Adding the building material is a good addition to the program but getting the mouse to find it may be a hit or miss without an attractant. That is if we hope to make some progress on a larger scale.

I wonder if military surplus or some such resource would have re-serviceable containers that could be fashioned into a bait motel ... The Norman Bait's mouse motel!

Some doo-gooder Rich folks should get behind this ( especially the Connecticut type ) and help make ticks a thing of the past. Them nasty buggers.

Have to say, I've had a non scientific belief that deer #'s and tick #'s may be associated but not one causing the other for a while. I know some studies have tried to show how this relates and not worked out one way or another. Perhaps there are some that do workout. Regardless, When mice or other rodents are so much more common... I use the "Z6/Quabbin" "Will's Observations Study" or Z6QWOS protocol :)...

As a kid living about 1 mile as the crow flies from the res boundary line, it was town wide news if someone got a tick on them - dog tick. I dont remember anyone ever even talking about "deer ticks" until I was out of high school - that was 92. Now, when the quabbin hunt started and deer numbers in that area plummeted tick interactions went from non issue to everyone has had them on them and lots of folks have had LD, maybe more than once. The deer numbers have been down... And those tick interactions have only increased.

I know some reports suggest tick numbers would rise for 1-2 years when a host is removed given they are looking for new homes.. and new generations are born from that high population... But why would that carry on for 20 years~?

Just a gut instinct, that deer may be a player, certainly the science has pointed at them... But the mice, and possibly other rodents seem to contribute as well...

Eventually, the tick that has feasted on some carrier of the crud then climbs up the vegetation for another meal and so on. The convenience of a meal in the leaf litter and the condensed population of the mouse may be referred to as a "crucible condition". Without which there is far less frequency of the needed chain of events.

There are several factors to consider . The landscape changed over the last 200 years. The rodent and predator numbers have been in flux. Migration/repopulation of species and so on. I am convinced that what we are seeing is some combination of the above but it is not directly correlated with the deer population. ( some correlation but not true causation ) It is more likely the success of the ground critters, temporarily absent of the predator and with good food available to the host mouse, rat, etc. And some crap luck, like transmitting the flue.

The problem is, it is hard to test for one isolated thing. But when the numbers can be reduced by 97% on the test farm, by treating the mouse, it is hard to imagine anything but good news from that and those numbers are huge. I doubt that if the deer were sprayed it would have the same results.

I would guess that the moose problem should be attacked from both ends of the equation. Maybe we should be spraying the moose from the air with the stuff we put on dogs or design a paintball like shot for sport and to irradicate the tick. Perhaps as a motivation, it could be Merit-based / earn a moose, for future hunting .

LOL

It only becomes fake news when lies are told and people are deceived into costly action that is unnecessary. First, be sure that we should act and when the Fake and Wild Prophesies have subsided then we can have a rational discussion.

If I was a betting man I would put my money on massive destruction/ inconvenience and resulting deaths being caused by the next solar flare and not even a major one. What does NASA say about that? Not much. Cause we can't tax it and the destruction to electronics when it does happen, is a great event if you're invested in that industry...

:(

Now in recent years many people go,.. "Ya the evidence is overwhelming,.. ok fine,.. so what?,.. Who cares?,.. Nothing bad will happen or I will be dead by then,.. etc"

Over many more years,.. those views will change/evolve also,..

Meanwhile,.. like most of you I go about my usual business burning up tons of fossil fuels, driving around my gas guzzling Mustang,.. and throwing my one use plastics in the trash.

The questions that linger sound like this I think. What will change in our natural world? (based on Facts and real-world physics, not wild model predictions, propaganda and speculation out of the slimy mouths of politicians such as the last bunch of sleazoids) ) A warming world is not a doomsday scenario which they would have you believe... The Chicken Little thing... It has many benefits as well. Some shifts in weather patterns (natural and perhaps magnified to a small degree) are always happening and we can adjust. Like my Viking Ancestors did just northeast of you ... it was nice when they arrived, then after a few hundred years it got too cold to bother, so they left. No big deal, I came back but am willing to move if it gets too warm. The boat is still floating and the oars are ready to go.

What would our best effort cost, to what effect and would it be worth it? Is it more practical to build a seawall and ask China and India to stop the insanity? Or should We do all we can, at any cost and yet achieve no significant further results, which is widely accepted as reality. Heck, we have a long slow process before us at the rate of sea rise (natural and maybe minimally magnified by our contribution) and a new one brick high addition to the seawall each century should cover it. I'll mix the mortar. Maybe by then China and those similar delinquents will get on the reasonable train ... Maybe not.

In a few hundred years, we will likely be able to do something else if needed. New processes and perhaps new fuels will emerge as worthwhile. I like Hydrogen. Let's not put a sterling silver muffler on the Mustang just yet. Yu know? We do have time and we are working towards a cleaner environment.

I am not as worked up about CO2 as you may be. I like the warming planet and if we are adding to that then I'm good with a few degrees warmer. But, if it was really going to be "Catastrophic" and proceed on the wild projections of the crazies that be , then I would be worried. That is where the argument rests... There are reasonable, independent, brilliant Scientists that understand the Global physics and they have my support. Consider doing nothing beyond what we already do. Shocking I know!

There does that get your blood pumping again ? Peace O' Pi. friend.

Interesting bug article for those interested...

Changing landscape: IE (regrowth of New England clear-cut for farming are now maturing again) Larger human population : ( more contact and perhaps increased food sources for rodents) Greater species development and repopulation such as the Mouse, Goose, Turkey buzzard. Turkeys and a return of many furry friends, etc. Low population of specific Predators ( they are now on the rise but it will take time to reach an equilibrium etc. ) Owls, Hawks, Martins, Fox, wolf/ coyote, Bats, Turkeys, predatory rodents and so many others ...

Or maybe it's our use of Fossil fuels ... uuuhhh.....MK?

"""Warmer weather is an important cause of the surge, according to the lead author of a study published in the C.D.C.’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report."""

Or we can just blend, twist and blur the lines of truth until we get the answer we want. All things have a relationship but that doesn't mean they are relevant.

So in short , if they (fake news advocates) don't start it, there will be no need to defend reality.

Ghillie suits, Tree Saddles, 2nd Amendment, actual hunting stories/help/ideas, The benefits of Buddhism... I could avoid it on those... water quality (hmmm... maybe not that one)... But I think I could avoid AGW (kidding Pi... Easy fella) if we were discussing Buddhism. Meditation too. I could avoid it there. Crossbows, definitely crossbows. Pot legalization, that would be fun to discuss ;)...

But...

If anyone says "Soy is a high quality protein" I'm going to frigging spam this site with every windmill, solar farm, global warming, article I can find to put some sense into whoever tried to come up with that line :) Then maybe a few to suggest that soy does in fact have protein, but it's not what it's cracked up to be.

Now, about that Soy thing... I'm with you Will but BB will probably slip in an article that brings us back to ... you know what... yeah that. Wait for it ... hold ... hold...

Here you go Will -Soy and climate change http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/soy/impacts/climatechange/

-Dont forget that Soy is an estrogen precursor. -Soy oil is extremely high in "inflammatory Omega 6". And in almost everything. -Transgenic glyphosate Round up ready too. No Soy here. Tekoa

Whatever,.. onto the hunting stuff please,..

BB - I think Bruce was kidding around. Hence my gooberish response... That said, now I'm hoping you got my humor there Bruce!

"And they continue to spread northwards in Canada – partly courtesy of climate change, scientists believe."

There is anecdotal evidence that patients have contracted Lyme disease on Corkscrew Island and the surrounding area. These patients developed multiple clinical symptoms indicative of Lyme disease, including progressive arthritis, neurological deficits, and profound fatigue. Of medical significance, Scrimenti 38 described an erythematous rash on a patient (a physician), who was bitten by a tick while grouse hunting in the fall of 1969 in Wisconsin; he represents the first recognized case of Lyme disease in North America in modern history. The attached tick was most likely an I. scapularis female because American dog ticks (D. variabilis) do not quest in October in this geographic area.

Blacklegged ticks have an innate ability to withstand weather extremes 40. Based on historical annual weather data, the maximum extreme high at Kenora was recorded at 36ºC, whereas the minimum extreme low was -44ºC. The normal accumulated snow cover is 22 cm (Environment Canada). Blacklegged ticks are adapted to these conditions because they have antifreeze-like compounds (glycoproteins) in their bodies 41. Since sub-zero, ambient air temperatures prevail at Corkscrew Island throughout the winter, I. scapularis can survive in the leaf litter under an insulating blanket of snow. During hot summer days, they descend into the cool, moist leaf litter, and re-hydrate. Based on our studies, harsh ambient air temperatures are not a limiting factor in the survival of I. scapularis in the Kenora District.

Notme - is that Caitlyn Jenner?