Ticks.

[Slim140]

I told our son (he's 6) I'd take him turkey hunting one day this season, well we work so much and he plays baseball on Saturday mornings we just haven't been able to go. Season goes out this Saturday so I contacted a friend of mine who I'd put up against anybody calling to better our chances since I'm not that good at calling turkeys. We went Tuesday afternoon over to where we deer hunt and walked about 400 yards through the field and set up. Hadn't been there maybe 15 minutes and I flicked a tick off my hand. 5 minutes later son said there's a snake, black snake going wherever he was going but it was away from us so it's all good. Well my friend got a couple ticks off my son and we got done and headed to the truck. I'd say in all we pulled 25 ticks off the 3 off us, off our clothes shoes, hands, heads etc. As soon as we got home I got my wife to give our son a bath and check him for ticks and I put our clothes in the washer. As soon as he was done I took a shower. I then checked the truck and got one off the floormat. Yesterday evening I got our son in the bathroom to get ready for bed and he took his shirt off and this tick pictured was attached to his stomach, found another one crawling on his clothes and another one attached to his body. I've never seen so many ticks and never seen them this small. This is a regular q-tip not one of those big ones. I remember now why I'm not big into turkey hunting. I can't stand ticks, my brother had rocky mountain spotted fever when he was young and my cousin had it twice and almost died from it.

[Eugene]

Heavy use of Deep Woods off on pants and legs. Lighter use above the waist.

Throw clothes in washer. Shower, while still nude have someone check you over for ticks.

Neighbor said to take garlic tablets to repel ticks.

[Stanton]

Shane, in Missouri, we call those "seed ticks". I think they're ticks that are just hatched; immature. You can do a Google search if you wish. Not sure at which stage a tick can carry the fever, but watch your son for the signs.

I've been out turkey hunting when everything's fine, then I've run into a patch where there'll be several. I supposed I ran into a hatch area or something. I've also ran across some oak mites...that's another story.

Hopefully, your son will have good memories of the hunt and forget about the ticks.

[ajhbike]

Bad up here so far this year for ticks...especially the deer ticks which is an issue living 20mi from Lyme, CT where it all began....

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Yup, it looks like it might be a bad year for them. I have already found one on me which is unusual, because for some reason ticks and chiggers do not seem to like me. It is unusual for me to find more than a couple in a year, and a lot of the time they are dead. Wish I could figure out what the reason is and bottle it, I would be rich.

[ricky racer]

Probably the best defense against ticks, mosquitoes and all other biting bugs is Permethrin. It's cheap and is applied to your clothing instead of your skin. Properly applied it will last through as many as 6 washings and keep killing and repelling biting insects. Permethrin is cheap and can be purchased at any farm supply store like TSC or Rural King. It is normally purchased as a concentrate and diluted with water. It can be sprayed on clothing or better yet, dipped in a solution of Permethrin/water and allowed to dry.

http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/permethrin

https://tickinfo.com/permethrin

[v w]

My wife feeds turkeys. They seem to like poultry scratch. Yesterday we had two hens being followed by two toms with their tail feathers spread but the hens were ignoring them. Last year we watched 11 fur balls grow into adults. Kind of neat. Vern

[mozer71]

Hey. Good for your hens and toms. Ticks are horrible different topic. I'm in Virginia and would get chiggers and fleas just mowing the grass. When I had pets, they would bring them in from some other critter or pet walk. A couple years ago after my pets had died, there was a rash which wasn't chiggers. Now, deer tics are the ones which spread lime disease and that is Really like what was pictured here. Somewhere I got "lone star" tics which are very small and attach in clusters. These things can drive a person mad. They ain't your normal chigger. They are almost invisible clear until they suck your blood . Very nasty insects.
Thanks for the tip about Permethrin, friend.

[mozer71]

I need to post again before I forget. A tic you can see is one thing, invisible multitudes of tiny ones is another thing. Bedbug spray in the linens was the answer some years ago.. It wasn't bedbugs but that poison killed them. Relatively annoying times which this summer will allow again.

[KETCHAM]

Chiggers.....had them in Maryland...Not had in in my area in Ohio......Dad got into them real bad once....Went to the hospital cause his legs were seeping fluid...Need cold winter to kill these bugs off!!!!

[mozer71]

Yes ! These are similar to chiggers-which I hate with passion- they are different. I've been around a long time and some bugs are morphing into something else. The thing is: I got them here, closer to the eastern city. We got regular tics at times in the Shenandoah Valley. Deer tics which carry lyme disease (not all) but this strain has migrated. We can report back during summer or anytime, especially if some news report finds that they also eat termite larva.
I would believe that...No. Kill them all! maybe. Everything has a part in this huge evolving system but certain insects are no good to man or beast.

[lyle11]

Based on a week in Wisconsin they appear pretty light this year. They were sparse last year too so that’s all right with me. I was listening to a scientist on the radio a couple years ago who studies ticks . He said that nothing eats them and, unlike a mosquito which is a nasty insect that carries disease but provides food for birds, bats, dragonflies, etc, there is no known benefit to ticks in the ecosystem. I think he also said they kept one in a jar for 2 years with no food and it was still alive. Makes you wonder how many are out there on 40’acres those times when you get 10 of them on you during a 30 minute walk.

5 years ago I got body aches and chills and determined I had Lyme disease. I went to a doctor who told me I had a virus but not Lyme but I insisted on a test and sure enough I had Lyme. I later discovered the red bullseye behind my knee. I was glad I had clear symptoms because from what I have read it can cause long lasting problems if it is not wiped out early with antibiotics.

[mozer71]

Firstly, I need to thank you and others for contributing to this topic. It isn't tractors but what happens when you are operating them. Deer ticks which carry lyme disease have taken down many of people. We don't know them, they didn't post here but they were striken down.
I'll recount a little story. Back in the day, I was fascinated by certain autos. One was shipped from France and went through the certain port around Belgium. Port authority tore it up looking for drugs and whatever. It didn't have that stuff but it did have a tick. I was under the car, actually I saw it inside the car and it disappeared. It was on my neck when I was under the car, trouble light and all that.
Since I was rather pissed at the time, I did an experiment. I knew that particular tick had been in that car without blood and crossed the ocean. It was a grey oval sort of tick and he was ready. You know about spray paint lids where there is an inner ring. I filled the outer ring with water and the tick stayed alive resting upon the inner ring. I tried antifreeze and more noxious chemicals around the outer ring and the dang thing was still alive. Still walking around the inner ring for weeks. Maybe I shouldn't have smuched it. I never saw that level of perseverance in anything.
It's relatives are out there looking for Us.

[mozer71]

A tic is like a cancer. You don't feel it like a bee sting or mosquito bite. They have that particular anesthetic which makes them silent parasites or killers. This is tic season for reasons and we need to scrub after working fields and such. Even perfect lawns, a tic can jump off a dog that has a flea collar, medicine but the tic is uncomfortable on that thing. New lawn, new blood. I Hate them.

[ajhbike]

Deer ticks in our area of CT are everywhere....you don't need deer around to have deer ticks. The Dr's around here will prescribe the antibiotics sometimes without even seeing you. Every year and I mean every year I have to take the antibiotics because I get the bullseye. I must smell good or something....