[Sebago Son]

I shot my deer very early on Saturday morning and hung it. I skinned it late last night. I'm cutting it this morning. The carcass is stone cold and dry and I'm no where near the hide which is staked out on the lawn drying.

I've found three of these little buggers on me so far, and one of them got me....

I've tested positive for Lyme's once already.... got the little bugger out with the Tick Removal Tool and treated the wound with ISP alcholol and bacitracin....

You fellers ought to be even more careful than usual.... this looks to be a bad year for deer ticks....

Drew

 

[Charlie]

Oh great! That's not good to hear. We haven't seen many down here...yet, but we will keep an eye out for them. Ugh, they are nasty little critters. Maybe they've left here and all migrated up North (but I doubt it).

 

[Hunter]

Yup they are all over the place this year. I had Lyme's also, not fun, I use spray now.

 

[Sebago Son]

Here is some good info on the subject....

http://www.uptodate.com/patients/conten ... AYccqJ5RqZ

 

[Cush]

Drew,

While I didn't see many ticks on my deer (just one on the ear), I've picked several off me both while scouting last week and while hunting on Saturday. The ticks this time of year are very small, but not all are deer ticks. Many of the small ones are immature wood (dog) ticks.

This tick thing does suck though (no pun intended.) I grew up in the woods and never had a tick on me, and now you have to worry about them even during deer season. They are a PIA.

 

[Sebago Son]

Good to know Cush, but being Dog Ticks is a small comfort.

Flying in the face of precedence, I got Lyme's in 2003 from a Dog Tick. Bullseye and all... This was confirmed by my doctor as I saved the little bastid and took him in with me....

Be careful out there....

Drew

 

[Cush]

Good to know Cush, but being Dog Ticks is a small comfort.

Flying in the face of precedence, I got Lyme's in 2003 from a Dog Tick. Bullseye and all... This was confirmed by my doctor as I saved the little bastid and took him in with me....

Be careful out there....

Drew

Some guys have all the luck... kihfL

I've already informed Julie that if I start acting strangely (more so than normal) or if I begin to complain of joint discomfort, I'm to be tested for Lyme. I figure I'll get it sooner or later.

Say, do they have a Government assistance program for hunters with Lyme?

 

[Sebago Son]

I'm waiting for the Maine State Tick Buy-Back Program....

 

[Viss]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Bob K]

Drew, Are Wood Ticks also disease carriers? You probably don't recall, but, last year, I was bitten by a Wood Tick (larger and brown), and figured I was safe...... as nothing became of it. (No bullseye) Does this mean I could have left it untreated?? Very scary. :roll: I may never roam the woods again!!!! :shock: :lol: Bob

 

[kingofthedemo]

To the guys who said they got Lyme disease-

How did you treat it, and were your symptoms severe? I knew a girl who got Lyme disease, she was bedridden for four years. It was horrible.

 

[Sebago Son]

Bob, not every bite will result in infection, even if the tick has the bacterium that causes Lyme's.

However, not every Lyme's infection will result in a Bullseye.

Usually however, the pathogens that cause the Lyme's infection (called "spirochaetes") are only injected AFTER the tick has filled itself and this may take many, up to 36 hours. This is so as the bacterium are not spewed from the tick into your system until it contracts it's digestive tract in an effort to disconnect and drop off. So if you see a tick on you, and it wasn't there a few hours before, it may not have passed the infection onto you yet even if it's dug in and biting.

VERY IMPORTANT. If you pinch off a tick, you can in fact force the same action that will pump the little bugger's juice into you. Don't squeeze him at all while he's attached to you.... Pry them loose from the head with the point of a blade or pin and then treat the site thoroughly with alcohol and anti-biotic salve.

What you do with them AFTER they are detached can be the result of an imaginative and vengeful mind. Bics lighters work well if you have the time or needle nose pliers and a box cutter if you're in a hurry.

 

[Sebago Son]

To the guys who said they got Lyme disease-

How did you treat it, and were your symptoms severe? I knew a girl who got Lyme disease, she was bedridden for four years. It was horrible.

I was pretty lucky.... by the time I was bitten in 2003 there was alot of info out there alerting outdoorsmen about the dangers of Lyme's.

My reaction was very quick and I got the bullseye within 10 days. The bite was on my ankle and obvious. I found it in the morning when I awoke, and the tick was still in the bedsheets.

As soon as i noticed the bullseye I want to my Doc. He took one look, drew a blood sample and said, "We can wait for the report or we can begin treating you today. Either way, I'm sure your test will come back positive." I started taking the horse pills that day. The test came back positive. (In some cases, it takes up to 6 weeks after the infection before you will test positive.) The therapy for me was massive doses of a very powerful antibiotic 3200 MG twice a day as I recall, and the regime lasted 28 days I think.

So far, I haven't had any of the classic symptoms that cannot be attributable to being older and generally just a grouch anyway. I believe that immediate treatment made a big difference.

 

[Bob K]

Thanks for the info, Drew. I like to hunt the woods and fields, and it hasn't stopped me yet!!! But.......I could attribute being an old,
60 y.o. grouch to it, anyway! nfiofnp It sucks.....gettin' old. My Mom, at 90, is becoming a handful. I don't look forward to reaching that point! :roll: Bob

 

[longarm]

Makes my skin crawl just reading about them.... AAACK!

 

[Bob K]

It's kind of funny (weird), but, back in the old days, say...20 to 30 years ago, we didn't hear about any of this stuff. Lyme Disease was unheard of. (to me at least!) Now, we have infected ticks, mosquitos, the Swine Flu....and the diseases seem to becoming more widespread.

Just a thought..... Is it because we're getting more disease infected illegal aliens entering this country ? They never get a medical check-up, and may be bringing in many foreign diseases from Central and South America. Also, the foreign grown produce and meat that enters our country does not get checked until there is a problem. These strains are very rare to this country. We are not prepared to deal with them.

It seems that E-coli is causing many meat recalls, after a lot of people get sick. There can't be very good inspections by the FDA, for this to occur on a regular basis. We are pay these people to do a job.....they are failing to catch the problem before it's too late.

This "Open Door" policy may be allowing more than just people to enter our country. :roll: Bob

 

[Nframe]

It's kind of funny (weird), but, back in the old days, say...20 to 30 years ago, we didn't hear about any of this stuff. Lyme Disease was unheard of. (to me at least!) Now, we have infected ticks, mosquitos, the Swine Flu....and the diseases seem to becoming more widespread.

Just a thought..... Is it because we're getting more disease infected illegal aliens entering this country ? They never get a medical check-up, and may be bringing in many foreign diseases from Central and South America. Also, the foreign grown produce and meat that enters our country does not get checked until there is a problem. These strains are very rare to this country. We are not prepared to deal with them.

Bob, another reason may be that people travel all over the world and bring diseases back with them either legal or illegal. Some of these diseases are old ones that we have eradicated long ago from the US and we have forgotten how to deal with it.

It seems that E-coli is causing many meat recalls, after a lot of people get sick. There can't be very good inspections by the FDA, for this to occur on a regular basis. We are pay these people to do a job.....they are failing to catch the problem before it's too late.

The FDA doesn't inspect the slaugher floors, its the USDA. As much as I'd like to blame the FDA. The way and speed that slaugher occurs and the number of animals that are run through, something is going to get by. All this is the responsibility of the plants that are doing the testing and sending it off to an independent lab. By the time the tests come back the meat is long out the door. Thus the recall done by USDA and with budget cuts many of the tests have been reduced or eliminated.

This "Open Door" policy may be allowing more than just people to enter our country. :roll: Bob

 

[Doc Nonverbal]

The missus and I have both had Lyme's. I picked up a deer tick getting the mail at the end of the driveway. The little bugger attached himself to my cheek. My wife asked me if I had a spot of blood and when I looked in the mirror and touched it, it fell out of my beard into the sink. It was tiny - about the size of the head of a pin, and almost perfectly round. I didn't see the legs until I looked under a magnifying glass.

The next day I was watching TV and put my hand on my cheek to find it very swollen. Shortly afterwards, I had joint stiffness that extended to my back. My PCP put me on Doxicycline (sp?) and that cleared it up.

My wife had a harder time. She was nursing our youngest at the time, so she couldn't take Doxicycline. She had bullseye rashes all over her body - at least six of them. She was bit between her toes - both of her toes turned dark purple. I was afraid they were going to turn necrotic. She was placed on Amoxicillan, but had a bad allergic reaction to it - hives from head to toe. Her doc put her on Erythrimycin (sp?), which cleared it up, but didn't eliminate the disease. She saw an infectious disease specialist a little over a year ago, who told her that she had the worst case of Lyme's he had ever seen - she was very high on every marker. The only way she can get the disease completely out of her system at this point is if she goes into the hospital and is placed on IV antibiotics for three days. Unfortunately, she's incredibly stubborn and won't do it.

Apparently guinea fowl have a voracious appetite for ticks and appear to be immune to Lymes. For those of you with acreage, it might be worth looking into.

 

[liightfoot]

Got a four pointer in Farmington...no ticks....but travel over to Temple and they are everywhere.

 

[Cush]

Got a four pointer in Farmington...no ticks....but travel over to Temple and they are everywhere.

Liightfoot, good to see your post. I've been hunting with my in-laws in Freeman (right next to Strong). No ticks there either. I'm surprised to hear that they are in Temple.

I took a doe opening day near my house in Poland. Ticks have been rampant here for a while. It's kinda nice to head north and get away from them but I suppose it won't be long before they make their way there too.