Do ticks nest in the ground?

[MHWASH]

I've experienced this before, but haven't given it much thought before. My son and I hiked to a glassing nob to watch for bear. We were about 10 feet apart. The whole afternoon he had ticks crawling on him and his gear, 10+. I had 1. The next day we were 20 yards apart and the ticks were all over my gear, backpack and bino harness laying within reach, I had 5 on my bino harness and only 2 on me.

 

[Cascade_Sherpa]

Yikes that's nasty, I'm cringing just reading that.....was that in E. WA? Have you experimented with spraying your boots/clothes with permethrin or another tick repellant? Sorry I don't have an answer for your original question.

 

[wapitibob]

They live in the duff, leaves, etc and go into a stasis until they get disturbed then wake up or when it gets warm.

 

[IDVortex]

No clue where they live. One thing I learned from hunting spring bear last year, don't sit on any moss, they live in those areas. I think i picked off about 20 of them from myself and pack after sitting in a mossy cliff for about 15 mins.

 

[.204smokechaser]

Needle-cast, grass, and moss is the ranking in where I find the most for the general areas you and I frequent around these parts. Except for that cold snap in January until the snow started melting in February, I picked ticks off of me all winter.

 

[7mm-08]

Permethrin! No good reason to ever have a tick on you again.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I have no idea what the life cycle is of ticks. I have seen them on sagebrush, fall out of trees on you, and sent my dog out to pee in the morning on grass and had him bring ticks back to the house.

I don't know why ticks get worse in the midwest in the summer while in western Montana, 10 days of hot weather and the ticks are gone for the year.

I had a year when my young horses had ticks of a variety of maturity on their necks in the fall. I sprayed them down with flea spray and haven't seen a tick on my place in 15 years.

 

[Billy Goat]

Wait till you see a tick "bomb".

Little bush above where they have hatched. They come out of the ground and start climbing, they will get on something and cover it, making it move.


I have boots, gaiters, and clothes treated with permethrine, and it makes a huge difference. But I still find several a week. Have pulled 4 off me in last 6-7 days.

 

[bowhuntercoop]

I literally drench my hunting and outdoor gear in permethrin as mentioned above, it makes all the difference living in the south. Couldn’t pay me to go in the woods without that stuff on my gear. Got lymes back in 2011 when I didn’t know any better, took years to treat and fix, never again.

 

[Phaseolus]

Ticks (disclaimer: there are lots of species and they don’t all have the same habits) diapause “overwinter” in duff.

 

[doc holiday13]

you're giving me the idea that I should treat my bino harness with permethrin. I've treated just about everything at my base layer level and my hat

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

Low humidity will dry them out. They like warm and damp environments.

Sawyer's Permethrin is great to treat clothing and gear and they have a spray called Picaridin that lasts 12 hours and repels mosquitos, ticks, chiggers, etc.

Treat your clothes with Permethrin, Cover up in Picaridin, Thermocell for additional Mosquito coverage if needed, and go hunting. That's my turkey hunting and early deer season cocktail and works great.

 

[RockAndSage]

Separate but related, our 19th century ancestors didn't have to deal with ticks like this, because natural, cyclical forest fires kept their numbers down by burning low-level brush, duff, etc. This, and the spread of tick-borne diseases, increasingly emerged as we ignored the reality of our forests being fire-adapted systems that literally need regular burns.

 

[Phaseolus]

Separate but related, our 19th century ancestors didn't have to deal with ticks like this, because natural, cyclical forest fires kept their numbers down by burning low-level brush, duff, etc. This, and the spread of tick-borne diseases, increasingly emerged as we ignored the reality of our forests being fire-adapted systems that literally need regular burns.

Science based source?

 

[FAAFO]

Separate but related, our 19th century ancestors didn't have to deal with ticks like this, because natural, cyclical forest fires kept their numbers down by burning low-level brush, duff, etc. This, and the spread of tick-borne diseases, increasingly emerged as we ignored the reality of our forests being fire-adapted systems that literally need regular burns.

Yep and wolves and bears kept everything in checked and life was perfect. hahahaha

Ticks killed the dinosaurs. Prove me wrong

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

Science based source?

Exploring the Effects of Prescribed Fire on Tick Spread and Propagation in a Spatial Setting - PMC

Lyme disease is one of the most prominent tick-borne diseases in the United States, and prevalence of the disease has been steadily increasing over the past several decades due to a number of factors, including climate change. Methods for control of ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

You can extrapolate from there

 

[RockAndSage]

Science based source?

Can Restoration of Fire-Dependent Ecosystems Reduce Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases? | US Forest Service Research and Development

research.fs.usda.gov

 

[MHWASH]

Just for comparison sake, I sprayed down with Sawyer's Permethrin, but my son did not. I cannot say that I noticed a difference in the amount of ticks between the treated and untreated clothing.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

Just for comparison sake, I sprayed down with Sawyer's Permethrin, but my son did not. I cannot say that I noticed a difference in the amount of ticks between the treated and untreated clothing.

With the Permethrin, you really need to spray down your clothing and gear thoroughly, then allow to air dry prior to going out. It only works with heavy dosing. The Picaridin is good for the "day of" type activity. I do both and it seems to help me.

I have seen the occasional deer or lone star tick on me after treatment, but they're very sluggish and appear to be having a hard time moving.

 

[IronSentinel007]

There is also a wash-in version of Permethrin that works well. Especially for socks, pants, shirts.... I have no data to support but I would probably avoid for DWR coated jackets, etc.