TICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gtfd47

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Apr 10, 2007
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Northeast MA
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A reminder to all who hunt in the woods. Be aware of Ticks, Tis the season, atleast in the Northeast. Was out this weekend, had 20-25 of them on me. Nasty!! Both deer and wood. Lymes disease is bad and prevalent. Where light colored pants and deet repellant. Also came across a sizeable water mocasin on the trail. What are some other nasties, youve come across? Just curious.

Goose
 

wheres_wheatie

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Sep 2, 2006
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Vermont
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Ouch! 20-25! :o
I've never had one on me, hope I never do.
I live in VT so guess I'd better be on the watch.
What does one look like in your skin? Were they easy to spot?
I always wear protective clothing and deet spray, then check exsposed skin best I can when I get home.

edit----
what the h*ll is a chigger?
 

MUD(S.W.A.T)

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Apr 15, 2005
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You can take a match light it and blow it out, put the hot coal tip of the match on the butt of the Tick. The tick will drop out without ripping his head off... Haha, sorry this sounds really gross but if you pull a Tick off his head will stay in and continue to cause you harm. If your doing lots of woods and field hunting always have a book of matches with you.

Sorry the most deadly thing I have come across are Miskitos :)

Keep @ it and HH!!
 

Rob in KS

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Aug 21, 2006
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The ticks are out here in Kansas. We mainly have the brown ones, they are easy to spot cause they're large. Those tiny ones you have back east would be REALLY hard to see and you wouldn't feel them crawling on you.

Chiggers are some microscopic thing. They bite and leave a bump that itches for a week. MUCH more itchy than a mosquito bite. They come out when its hot and dry. If we get a little rain, they won't bite. A little DEET around the ankles works great, unless your on your knees digging in the dirt :) They like places where your clothes are tight - like around your waist -- and those OTHER places. I don't think they range very far north.
 

wesfrye53

Bronze Member
Apr 11, 2007
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Springfield, TN
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Oh.....

There was a little chigger
And his head wasn't bigger
Than the head of a very fine pin.

And the bump that he raises
Just itches like the blazes
And that's where the rubbin comes in.

Comes in, comes in
And that's where the rubbin comes in.
And the bump that he raises
Just itches like the blazes
And that's where the rubbin comes in.

Sorry folks, just couldn't resist quoting a song we used to sing at Scout Camp!
 

Monty

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Jan 26, 2005
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Chiggers are also known as red bugs and are very tiny. The dig into your skin and leave a big red itchy welt!

Also note that the wasps are nesting up about this time too. They will build a nest in just about any eave of your house, windows and under overhangs in the woods. Some wasps build paper nests in trees and yellow jackets often burrow into the ground. Monty
 

Functional

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Feb 16, 2007
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Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada
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A Compass Magnum 420 recently brought back to life. And an untested "in the wild" Teknetics.
Warning about TICKS:

Tick bites hospitalize three with paralysis
By Don Plant
Thursday, April 19, 2007

Two children and an adult have been treated at Kelowna General Hospital in the last two weeks for partial paralysis as a result of tick bites.
When emergency doctor Jeff Eppler treated the first child, he was worried about a brain tumour. The next day, medical staff found a tick imbedded in the child‘s skin.

The rest of the story can be found here:
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=39919

Be careful out there. I've grown up on a farm and went hunting and fishing and later gold panning. I've seen and felt my share of Ticks, but even with the cases of lyme disease I've heard, to date, I've never heard of people becoming paralyzed by them. (I just hope this isn't some new strain of Tick that has the potential to spread and worse.)

This still woun't stop me from going into the bush, but I'm going to be a lot more careful when it comes to insects.

F.
 

cryptodave

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Aug 25, 2005
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Currituck County, NC
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Monty said:
Chiggers are also known as red bugs and are very tiny. The dig into your skin and leave a big red itchy welt!

Chiggers AKA Harvest mite larvae are small, red immatures between the egg and nymph stages, which have not yet become adult mites. They are usually microscopic. The larvae often live in berry patches, tall grass and weeds, woodland edges, pine straw, leaves, and treebark, or in typical habitats of their hosts (especially rodents).

The larval mites feed on the skin cells, but not blood, of animals, including humans. The six-legged parasitic larva feeds on a large variety of creatures including humans, rabbits, toads, box turtles, quail, and even some insects. After crawling onto their host, they inject digestive enzymes into the skin that break down skin cells. They do not actually "bite," but instead form a hole in the skin and chew up tiny parts of the inner skin, thus causing severe irritation and swelling. The severe itching is accompanied with red pimple-like bumps (papules) or hives and skin rash or lesion on a sun-exposed area. For humans, itching usually occurs after the larvae detach from the skin. Chiggers are known for spreading from host to host.

After feeding on their hosts, the larvae drop to the ground and become nymphs, then mature into adults which have 8 legs and are harmless to humans. In the post larval stage, they are not parasitic and feed on plant materials. The females lay 300-8,000 eggs in a litter, usually on a leaf or under the roots of a plant, and die by autumn.

Nasty little buggers!
 

Peak190

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Apr 23, 2005
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We get small black flies at the beach here in Canada and they can bite ,nasty little buggers. Last summer we had to leave because they were biting everyone.
 

hasbeen

Full Member
Jan 4, 2006
249
3
Here in Tennessee I do most of my detecting in the fall,winter and early spring because of all the pests we have.

The ticks most prevalent here are lone star and deer ticks,in addition we are cursed with chiggers,red wasps,mud dabbers,bumble bees,honey bees,yellow jackets,scorpions.fire ants,brown recluse and black widow spiders,two types of hornets,diamondback and timber rattlesnakes,copperheads,cottonmouths,blackbears,mosquitos,gnats.

Poison ivy,poison oak,and rabid animals must also be remembered.

hasbeen
 

sniffer

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Dec 31, 2006
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just to let ya'll know chiggers are little bugs that feed off just about any kind of animal, but I've been told they actually dig under the skin and live there until they mature I've had them, the easy way to get rid of them is to cover the welt with clear fingernail polish and let the polish fall off in time, I think it suffocates them. For ticks, I use match, but I've heard that rubbing alcohol will kill them.
 

wildrider

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Feb 25, 2007
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They're as nasty as spiders. :-[

I hate these things. Most of my outdoor things are about to halt and won't restart until October. No bugs, no snakes...I still get the poison ivy all year long.

Burt
 

cryptodave

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Aug 25, 2005
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Currituck County, NC
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sniffer said:
just to let ya'll know chiggers are little bugs that feed off just about any kind of animal, but I've been told they actually dig under the skin and live there until they mature I've had them, the easy way to get rid of them is to cover the welt with clear fingernail polish and let the polish fall off in time, I think it suffocates them. For ticks, I use match, but I've heard that rubbing alcohol will kill them.

They do not live under the skin, that is an old wives tale. Fingernail polish doesn't do anything but irrate the skin where the bite is.
 

Cynangyl

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Apr 12, 2007
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God's lap
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hasbeen said:
Here in Tennessee I do most of my detecting in the fall,winter and early spring because of all the pests we have.

The ticks most prevalent here are lone star and deer ticks,in addition we are cursed with chiggers,red wasps,mud dabbers,bumble bees,honey bees,yellow jackets,scorpions.fire ants,brown recluse and black widow spiders,two types of hornets,diamondback and timber rattlesnakes,copperheads,cottonmouths,blackbears,mosquitos,gnats.

Poison ivy,poison oak,and rabid animals must also be remembered.

hasbeen

YUCK....did you get EVERY nasty critter there???
 

T

TreasureTales

Guest
Ticks are prevalent in my county and some of them do carry Lyme disease - I know, I had it. Took a month of treatment to get over it - large doses of antibiotics. Ruined my immune system.

Chiggers can be found in some parts of California -around Fresno and Modesto, I think. Hope I never find out for sure. Nasty little buggers.

Mosquitos can be bad with the West Nile Virus - has been deadly for some in this state.

Bird flu must also be avoided - don't touch any dead or sickly birds!

Flesh eating bacteria should be considered when digging in damp, warm, freshwater beaches. NASTY, potentially DEADLY STUFF!!!

Poison Oak is always unpleasant - doesn't matter what time of year because all parts of it have the oil that irritates the skin. Leaves of three - Let it be.

Bears and mountain lions have killed and injured people here in California. Avoid overhanging tree limbs, rock outcrops, and berry thickets.

Dogs can be dangerous, especially when running in feral packs.

Rattlesnakes are common and inhabit every county in California.

Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders are very unpleasant - the bite of a Brown Recluse will cause skin ulceration that is often only stopped by cutting out the affected area - sometimes it is a large area that becomes affected.

But the most dangerous animal in the field is still MAN. Beware of your surroundings at all times and carry some type of weapon, and a whistle around your neck.

Be sure to tell some reliable adult where you're going and when you expect to return home.
 

Cynangyl

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Apr 12, 2007
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TreasureTales said:
But the most dangerous animal in the field is still MAN. Beware of your surroundings at all times and carry some type of weapon, and a whistle around your neck.

Be sure to tell some reliable adult where you're going and when you expect to return home.

Amen! The human race is still the most unpredictable and the most likely to have bad intentions.....pretty sad, isn't it! :(
 

Recruiter

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Oct 13, 2006
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Oklahoma
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Variety, some good some bad

Ticks yes... in my backyard

Partial decomposed goat at a lake....

Roadrunner was neat to watch

Big dog someone did not have on a leash at a park keep barking and growling while the owner was off in a distance "come here boy come here" did not bother to come my direction to get the dog. Bad dog owner bad
 

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