• Happy Marine Mammal Rescue Day! 🐳🐬🦭🦦

Tips To Deal With The Great Tick Invasion

I have used the same approach as Alan. For 15 years Kathleen and I have had as many as five sled dogs that we walk three times a day. During May, June and July, we remove wood ticks every walk, not just from the dogs, but also from ourselves. Sometimes 20-30 per walk. Just grab them between thumb and fore finger, at skin level, and carefully pull them out. We have done this thousands of times, always successfully. I have heard that sometimes the tick’s head separates, and stays imbedded with this technique. Never, ever happened to us.
 
For the last couple of years we have been giving our remaining dog a once-monthly pill during tick season that generally causes the ticks to jump off. Too bad there’s not such a pill for the people.
 
scoutergriz said:
that's about the most dangerous thing you can do for a tick- preventing it from breathing is almost guaranteed to make it vomit into the wound, releasing any spirochetes it contains directly into your bloodstream.
Click to expand...
Okay, thanks, Scoutergriz. It's been many a year since I've done it. I haven't researched this recently.
 
Pseudonym said:
We're a small island with a deer density of about 50 deer per square mile and accordingly the island is loaded with ticks. So much so that the Red Cross doesn't even bother with blood drives out here because the incidence of tick borne illness is so high.
Click to expand...

Pseudonym said:
for that very reason we have the longest hunting season in the state because there are no other predators on island.
Click to expand...

Are there any proposals or discussions to simply eliminate all the deer?
 
As I have dug into what they know about long term issues with some tick bites the stories get too hard to follow. So many ailments may be from untested aspects of what a tick can do to your body.
 
Glenn MacGrady said:
Are there any proposals or discussions to simply eliminate all the deer?
Click to expand...
Pseudonym said:
Practically speaking, there are too many people who are fond of the deer.
Click to expand...

Monhegan Island in Maine implemented the zero-deer solution, and it works. However it's a tiny community. Building consensus for that in a more populous area would be pretty hard. We can all blame Bambi. Here's a review paper on the subject:


Hunting can control the population in truly rural places but a lot of woodsy suburbia is excellent deer habitat but too settled for hunting. So some hunters wander all over the woods looking for a deer (with antlers, unless they won the lottery), meanwhile their neighbors back in town are posting pictures of deer at their backyard "bird" feeders.

Now, couldn't Disney have made a tear-jerker flick about a coyote pup? Here in Maine they are specifically excluded from the "wanton waste" rules, you can treat them like cockroaches.
 
(with antlers, unless they won the lottery)
Click to expand...
Not to stray too far off-subject but Maine restricts doe hunting? Here in PA, I can get one buck tag but doe tags are practically unlimited (as are the deer).

I've never seen a recipe for horn soup and, on the farms I hunt, they want deer dead so I usually shoot mature does exclusively. Eliminates 3 deer (next spring) with 1 bullet and they are better eating than bucks any way.

As for ticks: I'm a bit of a tick magnet so, IMO, prevention is key. Lots of deet an clothing, hot shower asap and never slather anything around imbedded ones. I've broken off a few heads pulling them with no ill effects but don't make them disgorge all stomach contents in order to release.
 
Gamma1214 said:
Not to stray too far off-subject but Maine restricts doe hunting? Here in PA, I can get one buck tag but doe tags are practically unlimited (as are the deer).

I've never seen a recipe for horn soup and, on the farms I hunt, they want deer dead so I usually shoot mature does exclusively. Eliminates 3 deer (next spring) with 1 bullet and they are better eating than bucks any way.
Click to expand...

Yep, in Maine anyone with a license can take one buck, but you need to be lucky to get a doe permit. They want to keep the population up. You can't hunt over bait, but you can feed them for the heck of it. This is the northern extent of their historical range so back in the day a snowy winter would bring their numbers down, but we have less snow and more human food support these days.
 
goonstroke said:
a lot of woodsy suburbia is excellent deer habitat but too settled for hunting
Click to expand...

Yes, we're such a small island that you can't even hunt deer with a rifle because the bullets can travel too far. There's a bow season, primitive arms season and shotgun season (slugs only). If you have a doctor's note for physical disability, you can use a cross bow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top