Ticks on deer ?

+1 on the permethrin

Been using it for years, since I had Lyme disease. And if a hunter is inclined to walk away from a game animal because it has ticks on it, he should stop shooting them with a gun and switch to a camera.
 
I like that info on (Permethrin) spray on the clothes sold by Sawyer at Wall-Mart. I often carry a bug juice pen and bug bite pen also available at the store. As far as here in Michigan most of the Upper Peninsula has wood ticks. I'm not sure what they are in the Lower Peninsula. Although we have plenty. When out in the woods or swamps I usually become hyper aware of itching of skin and inspect. That isn't near enough proof but a through inspection in front of a mirror and hot shower dose help. The trick is get them off before you bed down because they will have a good grip on you by morning. I also agree that If you are afraid of the little bad tick stay home or go shopping.
 
short, silly answer "I skin my deer. Am I doing it wrong?"
longer serious answer: I have seen a couple of big, nasty-looking ticks on deer before, but they were departing while I was working. I could imagine finding a herd of them would be a bit unsettling, but since deer usually sleep on the ground, I would suspect that they should be toting any number of ticks, fleas and whatnot. I usually save a patch of elk, deer, antelope hide from my skinning so my kids can feel it and see what it looks like up close, but then it goes in the trash.
 
Around here, North Georgia, it all depends on the year. Last year, the deer were loaded in ticks. I have not see a tick on the two I killed this year.
 
"...I agree with that 100%..." Ditto. Up here, wasting game is a crime. You can't decide you don't want the deer you shot.
 
Ticks on deer...ticks on hogs...ticks on hunting dogs...there is just no end to it. You have woods around you, chances are you are going to have to deal with ticks along the way. I deal with a lot of hogs, and you seldom see one without ticks. Sometimes I can see bunches of small ones crawling on their belly, but they don't cause me any problems. I normally only take the hind legs off of one anyway and I can remove the legs and skin them out in a couple minutes each right in the field. Not too much time or chance for the ticks to get on me, but I have had to deal with them from time to time....just part of the process.
 
I have to agree with the guys that said the ticks were not too bad this year. I have had Lymes 2x (Yes, it is permanent, but you can get it again.) I was working in a county that was the hotbed for Lyme Disease in the whole United States. The ticks that are the prevalent carriers are called "Deer ticks". They are about the size of a grain of black pepper. The big ticks carry it also, but are less likely to have it. Ticks do not "Freeze off". I have put deer capes in the freezer for a couple months and when I thawed them out, the ticks started to crawl off the cape. The thing I have noticed is that some of the ticks look different than they did years ago. Who knows where stuff comes from now days?
 
In NH the ticks are bad. Moose are dying because they have thousands of ticks on them. My last deer mount the area behind the ears was ruined because of ticks. My experience has been that after you kill a deer the ticks fall off rather quickly. I use Permethrin on my clothing and don't have any problems. I read about one of the colleges in MASS feeding deer in Ipswich MA with bristles hanging over the feeders. The bristles had some kind of tick solution on them. This was used in the spring when there were eggs or baby ticks on the deer. The deer would rub on the bristles when they fed and get the solution on their head/necks. I guess it worked very well to thin out the ticks but for some reason the trials were stopped.
 
There is evidence that a a 5,000-year-old man preserved in an Alpine glacier had Lyme disease. There is also evidence that Native Americans and early colonists may have been exposed to Lyme disease, but with the clearing of forests and the virtual "hunting" out of whitetail deer in the country, the disease all but disappeared. Until the technology came about to identify the disease from others, it probably was around in small numbers and misdiagnosed. It wasn't until we brought back deer in high numbers and they acclimated themselves to living and feeding in close proximity to man, while at the same time folks moved to the country and became more active outdoors, and the disease became more prevalent, that it was diagnosed as Lyme.

Deer are hosts to ticks. The more deer, the more ticks that will reproduce. Seems CWD is very similar as to being related directly to high numbers of deer. Thus as long as there are deer, there will be ticks. Pretty simple..... If you want deer, get over your fear of ticks.
 
Not ticks but related.
In 1976, Colorado,I shot two rabbits for the camp.
I had my shirt sleeves rolled up, a rabbit in each hand walking back to camp..
Felt the oddest creepy sensation moving up my forearms!
It was a legion of fleas leaving the cooling rabbits and onto me.
It was a bubonic plague year.
The rabbits got dropped and left.
No apologies.
Oh, lol, when you are camping and wake up in the middle of the night with a certain feeling in your neither regions - its always a TIC!!!!!!!! :eek:
 
buck460xvr-- You are right. I used to hunt a local place for deer and if you sat down in an area with little deer sign, you would almost always be tick free at the end of the day. If you followed a deer trail up over a hill there, you would be loaded with them. I was with someone one day and the temperature had gone up in the middle of the day. As we went up the trail I could see ticks moving up her orange pant legs. It is like they abush deer along heavily used trails.
 
I hunt MN and NW WI it's not uncommon to find hundreds of ticks on a deer. We shot deer in a controlled park hunt in the 1990's at St Croix St Park in MN and they shaved a 4 inch square of hide and counted 80 ticks on my deer. The biologist said he had counted more than that and the deer was perfectly healthy and safe to consume. Most drop as animal cools. I usually have 10 to 20 crawling on me every time I scout my property in WI. Do a thorough check of your body every time you come inside. If you are bitten demand a test for Lymes even if you do not have the typical bulls eye ring around bite sight. FOr those who left those deer that is blatant wanton waste of game. Deer have ticks deal with it.

Mwal
 
Most of them on a deer are so engorged, they just drop off. I didn't even know what it was, until someone told me it was an engorged tick.
 
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