My theory on the rampant tick problem is this. The Avian (flu) problem that hit several years ago and desimated the songbird population wiped out one of the major predators of ticks. Seems the tick population exploded right after that happened. Your thoughts?

What tick problem? Everyone has moved on to the next crisis!

I'm far more concerned w/Lymes than Corona.

Your songbird population was wiped out? You have a tick problem?

We have been seeing an increase in tick-born deseases though. But maybe because more people are looking for the signs and symptoms.

Still have songbirds though.



Little over four weeks until turkey season... I’ll report back if I notice a lot of ticks... oh, and turkeys too.




And everyone knows that Facebook says opossums eat all the ticks.

didn't have a tick (or gypsy moth) problem until they banned DDT.

Well they dont

My evening pastime is picking the ticks out of my cats and the odd one from the better half. They don't seem to like me. Makes me think that even ticks have their pride

LOL!

I know for a fact ticks like some folks better than others. (I'm a magnet)

Just one idea. We put out toilet paper tubes stuffed with cotton soaked in permetherin around the 80 we camp on. It significantly cut down on the tick we find. The idea is mice are the first blood meal of most ticks and the mice find and use the cotton in their nests and get dosed every time they enter.

We have done it two years and it seems to be quite effective although I cant prove it scientifically. So take it for what it's worth.

X2

Get the blue for your skin and the yellow for gear. Won’t need to worry about it.

I had a tick dug in in December and January. We could have used a longer stretch of cold weather.

Here it was snowing a week ago and I still picked some ticks out of the cats. The dog gets chew tables once a month that keeps the buggers of him and if they do bite , they stop ticking in short order. The missus thinks that I take the same tablets. But I told her that butter pecan ice cream has the same effect. She hates the stuff but keeps buying it for me to keep the ticks off ..... mama raised no fool

Trap Setter, I read about that method being used successfully against deer ticks decades ago. My recollection is that it was in a park somewhere in the northeast. It was particularly effective in controlling Lyme because the Lyme spirochete gets transmitted thru the mice.

For some reason, our tick population crashed last spring from the year before. Don't know what to blame it on, except we had winter in Feb, but don't think that would be of much use! Had very few last spring from the year before, when the dogs would come back loaded after being out for just a half hour. Hope we have a repeat of last year.
Where I get/see more ticks in the winter, is skinning coyotes. They can carry a lot of ticks at times, and you sure need to be aware of it!

I might give your plan a go this year, that's a great idea. I'll give Scuba's a go too with the ice cream, just to be on the safe side.

You will find that ice cram tastes way better than paper tubes filled with cotton

Just make sure its butter pecan ice cream. If enough of us start doing this and the wife needs proof, we can always reference back to the success stories on here to help our cause

( This post will self destruct in 10 hours )

My take l had Lyme/tick borne diseases for 20 plus years miss diagnosed several times. I'm finally cured it was a walk or should I say crawl through h- - l . One was when they transplanted Turkey's they were not treated to kill parasites they spread deer ticks to places they never were. Two is the demise of the redfox due to coyotes the redfox was the #1 predator of the white footed mouse which carries tbdiseases they myphes need mice to survive
I could talk on this forever maybe longer. But anyhow that's it for now and that's my story and I'm sticn with it

I had problems with the Lone Star tick a couple of years ago. It triggers an allergy to red meat, talk about an adjustment to your life. I, luckily, am able to eat meat again now, but i don't want to deal with that again. I saw ticks all winter this year while skinning yotes, worse than i have seen before.