Spring is here...BEWARE
New York
So as we are gearing up for the Spring Turkey Season, take extra precaution regarding protecting yourself from ticks. They are more resilient than ever imagined.
A report was released about ticks from a research lab in Binghamton, where ticks lived for 27 years. There are several other surprising findings from this. The ticks were not given a host for 8 years, meaning no rabbit or rat to get blood from. Next, a female was found to reproduce, even after the last male tick had died 7 years earlier. They suspect that she was able to horde the sperm inside of her until conditions improved and then fertilized her eggs. Add ticks to the list of post apocalyptic survivors that includes cockroaches and Cher.
I had my own tick revelation about their resilience. A deer that I killed looked as if he had thousands of olive green coffee beans hanging on him. They were all engorged ticks. After a hasty gut job, I left him for an hour, and when I returned, most had dropped off. After cutting the skull plate off, I placed it into a bag with chlorine bleach, and closed it tight with duct tape. I put it into my garage and forgot about it for a few YEARS. When i discovered it, 11 ticks were still alive. No oxygen, except for what was trapped in the bag, bleach, and almost no blood other than a small patch of fur still on the skull plate.
I use Rhino Skin as my base layer and then I spray everything down with Permithrin, except my underwear. There is a company called Insect Shield that you can send your clothes to and they will professionally treat them, and guarantee their effectiveness for 20 washings.
They are THE only thing that I am afraid of when in the woods. They can transmit at least 16 diseases, not just Lyme, such as Ehrlichiosis will make you allergic to meat.
I don't see many ticks here in 8S, on people, pets, or game. Shot a buck in the DAX several years ago, brought him back here and hung him in the garage. The next day the floor under him was littered with ticks.
They suck but it's possble to enjoy what you like to do with little fear. While shed hunting I will periodically glance down and see what's on me, and sometimes I will bush them off, but most of the time they are already trying to get off. So I truthfully don't have to pay them much attention- I can't possibly. I've walked over 200 miles shed hunting this spring. If I spent my time looking myself over for ticks every 20 yards I'd never find anything.
Treat your stuff. Not with sawyers - that's a rip off. Buy Duration concentrate. Save a spray bottle (sawyers if you have one) and mix approx 16 more 18fl oz bottles of treatment with one 8fl oz bottle of concentrate. You can buy it at travelers supply. 1 - 24oz bottle of sawyers is anywhere from $11-18. 1 - 8oz bottle of concentrate is $30. And boy let me tell you... that sh#t works.
Treat your pants at a minimum. Tuck in your shirt. Ticks always crawl up. They won't make it very far before they're frantic to get off of you.
Alot of guys tell me they never see a tick in woods that I know are loaded with them here in 8G. Some think the fingernail size kids they've seen on deer are ticks and don't know what a deer tick really looks like or how small they are. Here's one I pulled off my dog a couple days back. A couple of his legs are tucked under ( have 8 ) but the pen tip gives a size reference for those unfamiliar with the evil toxic suckers..
KEDS on deer , not kids..hate auto spell.
More than a few confuse deer keds with ticks. My experience with ticks was when I turkey hunted KS several years ago. During the week long hunt I picked nine off me. From KS I went to my buddy's place in midwest MO. After a day or so I noticed the tell-tale bullseye on my chest. Went to his PA who wrote me a prescription for doxycycline. Never developed any symptoms beyond that. Anymore I totally treat my spring hunt clothing with permethrin.
Funny side story. While in KS I stopped at a fast food restaurant. The teenage girl behind the counter squinted as she looked at my neck. She said, "Ya'll got a tick." She reached up, plucked it off and crunched it in a napkin.
https://www.ticklab.org/blog/2020/12/01/the-tick-lifecycle/ Good info here as well as other places online. It’s important to remember that nymphs are even smaller than adults and can transmit lyme etc.
I don't think I've had more than 2 ticks on me in 10 years of owning my property in 6k. I guess it gets too cold there.
I hunt the northern zone north of Pat. Although ticks may not be very prevalent I spray all my clothing with permethrin. Will be doing so in the next few days prior to the opening May 1.
ttt. Its that time again ! 50 degrees yesterday and after I ran my dogs they had half a dozen ticks on them.
Worse day I ever had here in MA was deer hunting in October when I flicked about 100 ticks off my pants no exaggeration then literally the entire 35 minute drive home pulling ticks off my face, neck, hair, back of neck, arms, stomach and flicking them all out the window. Was unbelievable.
They are extremely common here in 7M .
3r ramped. I had one on pant forgot to spray my pants. Other than all my clothes are treated. Never had an issue. I recommend after the season get a Lyme test, request a western block with it.
