It's a bad year for tick down here as well, though from the smattering of posts it sounds as though as it's much worse in Maine.
vb:literal>
It's a bad year for tick down here as well, though from the smattering of posts it sounds as though as it's much worse in Maine.
I found quite a few on me while doing "Signal Hill" in Lebanon N.H. a few weeks ago. They seem to be everywhere this year. If I find a tick defense the team will make them a new cache item.
Why not live life like it is your last day....instead of pretending to be a member of the Peter Pan Club and believing you will be around forever.
Hey Brdad, I hate to tell you, but while doing Stacked on Stillwater I saw a tick at on of the stops. They're here, just not as plentiful. When I was in Mass over Memorial Day weekend we went on a cache and they were in the car for about a week after. EEEWWWWW!
I must be a tick magnet. I don't think there has been a time this summer when I haven't been out on a cache and NOT found a tick on me. Been using Cutters instead of Deep Woods Off. Might try the DWO again and see if I fare any better. Joe seem immune. Sour blood? <G>
Anne
TwoMaineiacs / Anne and Joe
Anne I want to cache with you from now on. If you are a tick magnet then maybe they will leave me alone if I cache with you.Originally Posted by TwoMaineiacs
Blazing Troll
Cache with you any time! I grew up in Virginia and North Carolina in a big family with a lot of hunters and fishermen. There were always a lot of bird dogs around especially at my grandaddys. Us grandkids used to make a game of pulling the big fat ticks off the dogs and popping them. YUCK!! Maybe my current tick magnet status is revenge of the ticks. So far they are just dog or wood ticks, not deer ticks.
Anne
TwoMaineiacs / Anne and Joe
....I'm with my other half Anne...If your a tick magnet...please cache with us those little buggers think I'm home for them....YYUUKKKKKYYY!!!
Maybe there is something about the type of vegetation along power lines that is inviting tick habitat. One of the worst spots for ticks I have ever encountered was while searching for a traveling cache along some power lines in the seacoast area of New Hampshire. When I got back to my car there were ticks crawling all over me. Luckily, I got them all before they decided to bite.
I work outdoors (urban & rural) and I've never seen a tick in the Bangor region or north. I can believe they're working their way north though. Look at the other critters that are working their way northward...Turkeys, pheasant...
As far as the powerlines go, it might be because the bushes are kept low by the utility (spraying or mowing) and there is usually a lot of grass. Ticks will hang onto the grass, a foot or so off the ground, and grab a ride with whatever strolls past it's stakeout.
If I see one up this way though I'll start spraying with DEET to repel the critters.
I have had very few wood ticks find a home on me - three so far. One was last fall in the Alfred/Sanford area. One was last summer in Hampden, and the most recent was this week in Caribou. Maybe I brought it with me? LOL
On a more serious note - though I have seen only a few wood ticks on me, I may have recently encountered a deer tick. I developed a rather suspicious looking rash on my leg late last night that has changed in appearance to a bull's eye like presentation - eek!! You can be that it will land me in the doctor's office tomorrow. Hopefully it is nothing more than a bad reaction to some other type of bite, but it is not worth taking a chance not knowing. A small co-pay can go a long way!!
I have to continually remind myself that it is not the wood ticks that are the issue, but instead the deer ticks that we are very likely not going to see because they are so small. Wood ticks are a disgusting nuisance. The real problem is that where there are wood ticks, there are deer ticks too.
I suppose the alternative is urban caching - eek!
~ Beach Comber ~