As most of you have seen I do a lot of fur bearer depredation on my land. Mostly because of my livestock but also because they have been a major factor in the loss of ground nesting birds and of reptiles around here.

Another reason I am thinning them out is because of the explosion of ticks on the land. Ground nesting birds and reptiles, etc are perfect tick control but they are nearly non-existent around here now from over predation.

In recent weeks I have learned of SEVERAL neighbors who have contracted tick born illnesses to include alpha-gal, ehrlichiosis and tularemia. Keep in mind these people all have large properties to include a variety of livestock.

Not a single one of them does anything to control the fur-baby population to reduce ticks and thus help increase ground nesting birds, reptiles, etc- the things that really do eat ticks. I reckon the infestation of ticks are so bad around here there is no longer any way to reduce the population of them. Even the deer are covered in them. So much so, their ears look like something chewed on them and their necks look black from the shear numbers of ticks on them.

One neighbor, who just spent several days hospitalized with tick illness was just telling me about the cute woodchucks in one of her pastures. I asked her if she or her husband was controlling any of these things (considering too this is a horse pasture and 'chucks dig large burrows). Well, the answer was no. Then she told me her dooryard area dog run had wild rabbits feeding out there when the dogs are in the house.

One neighbor, who has alpha-gal is down to 85 pounds because she can't eat anything. She was already a very thin person but now looks like death warmed over.

I was visiting with yet another neighbor who also has horses and she is getting quite handicapped with arthritis. As I was sitting there talking with her a large woodchuck came crawling out from under a shed right next to the house. I asked her if she was worried about ticks and holes in her pastures? Her response was they are soooo cute. People seem so clueless anymore.

I have learned to spray permethrin around my trap sites so I can actually get at them to clear or bait them.

I never gave ticks a thought when I was a kid. I must have had hundreds of bites, but now they scare the s..t out of me.

I never even saw one as a kid. Getting out of hand now I would say.

I grew up being exposed to ticks in Utah out in the mountains. We referred to them as wood ticks. I recall having many removed from various parts of my body by either my mom or dad-usually in the hair, between the legs or on the back or bottom where I couldn't see them. My parents would put a hot needle on the back end of the tick and it would back out.

That is the ONLY good thing I can say about fire ants; they eradicated the tick population around here for a bit. Now here's a gross one for you from the past; my middle son being about 1 1/2 years old was bleeding at the mouth at a family picnic. Seems he picked off one of the blood ticks from the dog's ear + like any little kid, bit it. Yes it was nasty, but a relief of what it could have been.

What's sad is with people taking no action they in effect are helping these diseases spread. Also, it is surprising to me that two of my friends that got sick are 'housewives'. They don't do much out of their dooryards yet they have gotten very sick.

Do I get bitten by ticks? Yes, often, but I am out on my land too.

We always had animals.

They had ticks.

No one was ever bothered by them then.

About 20 years ago I got tick bite fever in South Africa.

Bloody awful!

I was either sweating like a pig!

Or freezing mad!

My bedsheets were soaked at night.

Other times my wife would fill the bathtub with very hot water for me to lay in.

Not a very pleasant experience at all.

Are these tick diseases new or is it that now we are seeing so much illness because the tick population is higher?

I never heard of the alpha-gal one until very recently.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
Are these tick diseases new or is it that now we are seeing so much illness because the tick population is higher?

I never heard of the alpha-gal one until very recently.

Ticks kinda go in cycles. My state does a lot of controlled burns which reduce their habitat. Troops from a nearby Army base use Hartz Mountain Flea and Tick collars around the top of their boots when training.

In Africa, walking through some grass, one gets covered in ticks.

I remember sometimes I had to pick several off my body, in all sorts of places, every day while taking a shower.

I now soak all my safari trousers and shirts in Permethrin before I go on safari.

Works like a charm.

Some members here love my tick on buffalo balls pictures!

Years ago we had a New Year’s party at our house.

A Scottish friend came wearing a kilt.

We kept asking him if he was wearing anything underneath!

I found a picture I had of a buffalo bulls balls covered in ticks.

Put that picture in my camera, which I was using to take pictures at the party.

One of our friends, a very beautiful blonde from Sweden.

I told her I will take a picture from under our Scottish friends kilt, and see for myself if he is wearing anything.

I did take a picture from behind him.

Then I displayed the buffalo bulls balls covered in ticks picture to all to see.

It was absolutely hilarious!

Everyone was laughing!

Some of the women were making fun of his wife!

Asking her how she puts up with him!

One lady was actually laughing much, she crying and coughing, her husband was asking what I did to here.

Others told him she was jealous of what she saw!

It was like opening a can of bloody worms!

Ann, they were very abundant in Southern Oregon in the foothills of the Cascade, Klamath and Siskiyou mountains. This was prime blacktail deer habitat, and the damned things often loafed on our five acres. As a result, I was always picking deer ticks off our dogs. Watson, the Brit, was the easy one because they stood out against his white and orange hair. It was a tougher go with our Aussie. I got so that I just absent-mindedly petted and probed our critters while reading, etc. and often found them that way. I caught them trying to dig in on me a number of times, but never seemed to get a full head-buried bite with "exchange of fluids." One of my step-brothers, a professional timber faller used to carrying Stihl chainsaws with six-foot blades up and down our forested mountains was laid so low by Lyme that he had to be treated at the Mayo Clinic and never was the same again.
I certainly admire you for understanding the ecological dynamics at work in your neighborhood, and hope someone can spread the "gospel" on this matter.
We are in for some real treats ahead: the return of malaria (already happening in Florida) and the northward spread of Leishmaniasis for starters.
Sorry folks. The climate really is changing. Control what you can while you can!

We have a lot of ticks in the south GA woods. Because of this, we put our dogs on Bravecta years ago. It’s a pill given every 3 months. Haven’t found a flea or tick on either dog since we started the treatment. It simply works. Wish they made a human version of the drug. I get at least 4-5 bites each year.

As to making human versions of animal vaccines, I would like to see the development of Rattlesnake immunity, like they have the vaccine for dogs. Not total immunity but far less severe consequences. In the 60s, I knew a woman who had severe arthritis that took injections of rattlesnake venom in each arm simultaneously so it would reach the heart at the same time. Don't ask me how that worked, but after 2 years, she was immune to the venom (not that she was interested in chasing snakes)

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
In Africa, walking through some grass, one gets covered in ticks.

I remember sometimes I had to pick several off my body, in all sorts of places, every day while taking a shower.

I now soak all my safari trousers and shirts in Permethrin before I go on safari.

Works like a charm.

Some members here love my tick on buffalo balls pictures!

Years ago we had a New Year’s party at our house.

A Scottish friend came wearing a kilt.

We kept asking him if he was wearing anything underneath!

I found a picture I had of a buffalo bulls balls covered in ticks.

Put that picture in my camera, which I was using to take pictures at the party.

One of our friends, a very beautiful blonde from Sweden.

I told her I will take a picture from under our Scottish friends kilt, and see for myself if he is wearing anything.

I did take a picture from behind him.

Then I displayed the buffalo bulls balls covered in ticks picture to all to see.

It was absolutely hilarious!

Everyone was laughing!

Some of the women were making fun of his wife!

Asking her how she puts up with him!

One lady was actually laughing much, she crying and coughing, her husband was asking what I did to here.

Others told him she was jealous of what she saw!

It was like opening a can of bloody worms!

Oh, Saeed, that is hysterical!

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
In Africa, walking through some grass, one gets covered in ticks.

I remember sometimes I had to pick several off my body, in all sorts of places, every day while taking a shower.

I now soak all my safari trousers and shirts in Permethrin before I go on safari.

Works like a charm.

Some members here love my tick on buffalo balls pictures!

Years ago we had a New Year’s party at our house.

A Scottish friend came wearing a kilt.

We kept asking him if he was wearing anything underneath!

I found a picture I had of a buffalo bulls balls covered in ticks.

Put that picture in my camera, which I was using to take pictures at the party.

One of our friends, a very beautiful blonde from Sweden.

I told her I will take a picture from under our Scottish friends kilt, and see for myself if he is wearing anything.

I did take a picture from behind him.

Then I displayed the buffalo bulls balls covered in ticks picture to all to see.

It was absolutely hilarious!

Everyone was laughing!

Some of the women were making fun of his wife!

Asking her how she puts up with him!

One lady was actually laughing much, she crying and coughing, her husband was asking what I did to here.

Others told him she was jealous of what she saw!

It was like opening a can of bloody worms!

Oh, Saeed, that is hysterical!

He is getting a lot of mileage from this one!

Tells everyone about it!

And here is more on the alpha-gal allergy. What a miserable syndrome to develop! I can just see PETA whackos trying to infect red-meat eaters

https://apnews.com/article/mea...79cd553f003b149175e3

Never had these issues in the 60's-70's growing up. But trapping and the fur industry was a lot bigger in those days.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Loaded with FIVE Live ones!

Hunter has dick pics. This guy has dick ticks !