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.