Wood ticks.

[Ardie/WI]

I was thinking about this subject this week everytime I did a 'tick check'. As a child, I lived in the country,west of Green Bay. I don't remember ticks! Flies and mosquitoes, yes, but no ticks.

So...last night we went out for supper with an couple, in their late eighties, who grew up and farmed about five miles from where we live now. I asked if they remembered ticks and they both said the same thing I did. Flies and mosquitoes, yes, but no ticks.

What caused ticks to be so prevelant (sp?)???? Why, someone told me that they are even in the city parks now!

[seedspreader]

I have read somewhere that due to residual effects of ddt wearing off that bugs are coming back to pre-ddt levels (think plague levels... lol)

[paintlady]

I have a theory. When your elderly couple was young there was MUCH more rural land and the deer had much more room to spread out on .Now the deer are forced to live in much smaller acreages so maybe that is why the tick population seems more concentrated. It is like say, taking 100 roaches and spreading them out across your whole yard, now take those same roaches and spread them in a 4 foot area.. they seem more concentrated and you would notice them more.
About your tick check, keep it up. My son lives in Wisconsin and was just diagnosed with Lymes. He lives in the city but ventured out to do some hiking- in one of those concentrated areas.

[Cyngbaeld]

I've wondered if it might have to do with people not burning off their fields and the underbrush like they used to do.

[Jerngen]

I was told and just saw a website somewhere recently that showed the wood tick migration moving north over the last few decades. I know I never saw a wood tick in central MI growing up. I live in the northern U.P. now and have had a couple people tell me that even 10 years ago they didn't have wood ticks this far north.

Note to all: I'm differentiating between wood and deer ticks

[Ravenlost]

Global warming.

[JJ Grandits]

I had the same thought. Can't remember ticks as a boy. By the way, the whole concept that we have more deer because they are crowded together is wrong. We have more deer because we have more habitat for them. what used to be a hundred acre corn field is now been fallow, sitting on the edge of a suburb and covered with thich shrubs and small trees. Deer breeding heaven. The carrying capacity of the land increased therefore the population increased.

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

Ticks have been around northern WI for a long time. They are getting worse every year and are spreading. I do all my chainsaw work in the woods during the winter to avoid the little PITA's.

By the way, the thread is titled wood ticks, not deer ticks.


RF

[Rita]

I totally agree with Jerngan, we lived in NE Pennsylvania in the 40's never saw a tick and we were fishing, hunting or hiking a lot. We moved to MD in 1948 and our dog got this big gray thing on his ear and we didn't even know what it was. We lived in CT same scenario no ticks at all and now that was were Lyme disease was first discovered. I think they are excellent hitchhikers!

[pickapeppa]

I'm a 70s girl, and we had ticks in northern IN, in a manicured 3 acre lawn with only four mature deciduous trees and a row of evergreens down one length where we never played. The nearest tree beyond those were nearly a half mile away.

My sister ended up getting two, fully burrowed in the back of her neck to the extent a doctor had to remove them.

Never remember a time without ticks.

[fishhead]

Supposedly deer ticks are increasing their range and I suppose that woodticks could be also. With the high deer population because of our non-winters and the urbanization of our area creating refuges for the deer they provide a good food source for the ticks.

I'm sure that this spring I picked hundreds off me.

I've often wondered if ticks isn't something that came here to America by boat during the pilgram days. Since so many things hitched a free ride over, the other day I read somewhere about the Canadian night crawler didn't exist here before the pilgramige. Reason why I ask this is that I've often wondered how the Native Americans delt with them not having chemicals to use.

Oh by the way, wait till the chiggers migrate up north. Then you really will have a lot of fun.

[Hoop]

There have always been woodticks in Wisconsin. I don't see any more now than in the past. I've always thought the woodticks favorite hangout was tall grass.

Sadly, lyme disease is prevalent in deer ticks. I know 2 people that have been afflicted. 1 should recover fully. The other guy is a drunken alcoholic. His prospects for recovery are slim.....seeing that he can't quit drinking long enough for any antibiotics to be effective.

The booming deer herd in Wisconsin may be increasing the number of woodticks. With the old growth trees gone and young forests growing, the deer harvest numbers are 5 - 6 times what they were 30 years ago.

[toddbyron43]

The colder the winter, the fewer ticks, warmer winters will cause many more ticks.

[tn_junk]

I've been in the woods hunting here in TN for 40 years. Don't know 'bout ya'll up north, but we've always had the Ticks and Chiggers. Does seem lately that there are more of the seed ticks and fewer of the big "dog" ticks.
I found that wearing panty hose really helps. (And don't dare tell anyone)

galump

[Cheryl in SD]

I grew up in NE. We were never allowed to play under the cottonwood tree because of ticks. We never would get any playing anywhere else on the property, but we would be covered under that tree. Here is depends on the year. Two years ago you couldn't walk through the woods without picking them up. Last year it wasn't bad. This year we are staying out of the woods right now (mountain lions in the area) so I am not sure.

[orangehen]

I've always read that if you have free-range guineas (or even chickens), you'll have NO ticks. Guineas seem to love ticks.

[insanity]

There getting thicker down south as well.
As a child i cant remember getting more than a couple on me in a hole summer. And i stayed in the woods.
Now you can get them from the front yard.
And i don't ever remember seeing a seed tick back then. Now if you hit the wrong tree branch in the woods you could get covered by a hundred or more at one time.
And even though they have added more Deet to the Off. It seems to be working only half as good as it used to.

I type this with one hand as i scratch my bites from last weekend with the other.

We have been camping every week end for the last two months. So Ive been scratching a lot!

How ever the drought has put a big dent in the population! :baby04: Or maybe there migrating faster.

[LamiPub]

Was watching a documentary on the Missouri Ozarks and an older couple remarked how they used to burn the woods every Easter. You can't burn to clear/clean your woods anymore. I think that had a lot to do with it. Also as for the deer...more people hunted them for the meat and there were no conservation laws regulating it or conservations moving the animals around from state to state. Maybe these issues have some to do with it?

[LittleRedHen]

Originally Posted by orangehen

I've always read that if you have free-range guineas (or even chickens), you'll have NO ticks. Guineas seem to love ticks.

I have free range chickens and I saw my first tick a few weeks ago.. it was a dog tick though. But otherwise I have never seen a tick before in my entire life!