Lyme Disease & Ticks - What's your experience?

[G2400]

Hey Guys, I am an avid backpacker and hiker and really want to get into hunting. My one hesitation is ticks and lyme disease. I have unfortunately suffered for years due to undiagnosed chronic lyme disease and am just finally feeling better after a long road of treatment hence wanting to finally start new hobbies. What is your experience with ticks and lyme disease? Am I more likely to get ticks on me in the field? Or is the deer/elk themselves crawling with ticks and you also need to watch out when field dressing/cleaning the animal etc? Any advice or tips besides pyrethrin and/or deet? I really want to get into hunting, but if Lyme disease is a potential again I think I'll have to pass.

 

[Hoghead]

My son has chronic Lyme how did you get rid of it. Feel free to pm me if you don't mind

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[Fordguy]

Your tick situation is going to vary a lot depending on where you hunt. In central Michigan where I hunt I rarely find ticks, on me or on the deer that I shoot. I did find one while scouting the area this spring, and I've heard that they're getting more common. Over all, in 35 years of hunting there I've found fewer than a dozen ticks.
I also hunt in Oklahoma, and the situation there is much different. Ticks seem to be prevalent everywhere. Apply Sawyers or a similar permethrin based repellent to all articles of clothing if possible. Every Oklahoma deer that I've shot has been crawling with ticks. Skin them before they get a chance to cool and you'll have fewer ticks move from the hide onto your clothing or skin. If you're caping the deer, toss the cape in the freezer for a week or so to kill the ticks, your taxidermist will thank you for it. As always, do a thorough tick check when you finish, the damn things can be anywhere. A mirror and a flashlight with an adjustable head will help if you don't have an accommodating girlfriend or wife.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

A few years back I was in Wis. grouse hunting and removed a imbeded tick. I return to Ca. a few days later and because I didn't like the looks of the sight I went to see my Dr. He didn't like the looks either so he gave me 30 days of doxycycline and told me not to stop taking it until he got back to me with workup. A week later he called and told me not to stop taking meds. I had a positive test. I took the entire 30 days worth and that solved the problem. The meds. played real hell with my system but limes would have been worst. Catch it early no problem, at least that was how it went for me.

 

[Wrench]

My neighbor's son had an awful run in with it. They had little hope for him. They tried lots of drugs and stumbled on celery and tumeric juice. They switched up the diet to organic fruits and vegetables and have had great success.

I couldn't do it, but it worked for them.

 

[magtech]

North/Central Michigan here. This spring i had ticks on me every time I went into the woods.

When I lived in ND I came in from hunting with 13 on me once. kept picking and cutting them off me for a few days. A few years after this incident doc told me I had Lyme disease... then told me later on I didn't... false positive... the science is out on that one... and here I was hoping I had a sound excuse for being me, lol.

As for Lyme disease being a potential. It could happen, so could a lightning strike, meteor, shark attack. You can get ticks from walking in any untreated tall grass.

If you're that worried about it... maybe the outside isn't for you?

 

[Carbonaero]

I’d recommend vigilance. Just do a tick check and take a shower after hunting. Save a tick that’s attached for future testing, doxy if needed and all that jazz. My wife was sick for four or five years, lost a lot of good time to that shit. Damn ticks. But they are just bugs and can be beaten. Go hunting. It’ll be good for your soul.

I took a young man out for his first elk hunt this last year. He’d been laid out with cronic Lyme for the last three or four years. We got a bull on opening day. Man, I could really see what that meant to him.

Good Luck!

 

[Zeke6951]

I worked as a forester, I had lymes 2 times. Doxy got it quickly both times. I have a friend that has a chronic case. He will never be the same. Had to have a foot removed, and has mental problems as well. Took a medical disability. Lymes can also be spread to a spouse sexually. Standard practice when going in the woods now is duct tape pants to boots, then spray with Permethium (sp). As soon as possible after being in the field, shower and check for ticks. I have been told that the ticks have to be attached for 24 hours to pass on the Lymes.
By the way as part of our safety training we were told that there are at least 7 tick born diseases. One that is not common (and I don't know the name) that has no cure and is always fatal.

 

[NYyotekiller]

Being a Professional Land Surveyor and being outside in the elements everyday for 20+ years in the northeast I’ve gotten my fair share of tick bites. Somewhere in the vicinity of 150 or so. I don’t even bother with the deet and the permethrin because I figured the daily use of that stuff would be tougher on me than the ticks are. I just do a nightly tick check of myself and pull any ticks if I find them. I carry tick pullers right in my lunch box so I have them with me all the time.

My better half is a veterinarian and 75% of the ticks that she has tested in her clinic are positive for Lyme so I never bother on saving any to have tested. Just figure that they are all positive.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Like I said I took the full regiment of The Doxy the Dr. prescribed. My system was never so messed up everything I ate went straight through, gut ache, everything messed up. It took me several weeks to get back to normal. Did you other who took the Doxy have similar problems?

 

[def90]

There are no reported cases of lyme disease that have originated in Colorado.

We have what is labelled as Rocky Mtn Fever which is tick borne but it does not have the same long term effects that lyme has.

 

[Coldtrail]

Ive had lyme's 2x, the best prevention is a tick check after being in the woods, if you find an embedded tick go on Doxy. I dont have much faith in the Lyme's tests & either do the doctors that deal with tick borne illness, most go right to Doxy treatment. I do have a pair of "tick pants" I treat every few weeks with Permethrin, but those little bas$ards find a way somewhere to get on you.

Dont let ticks/lyme's stop you, but dont shrug it off either.....its a BFD when you get it and the long term effects are unknown just yet.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Lyme is no laughing matter but, after morning walking through the woods of No. Wisconsin hunting grouse it's fun to take break at one of the off the road Taverns for lunch and watch all the hunters reaching behind their ears, the back of the neck, their face, where ever they feel a itch they're looking for a tick. When we took a mid day break we would all go back to the lodge , strip down and do a tick check. More than likely you would find one or two. Late afternoon we would repeat, hunt, go back and check for ticks. Just something you need to do.

 

[Btaylor]

I treat clothes and boots with sawyers, tuck pants into boots and tuck shirt into pants. Knock on wood havent had a tick on my skin since I started doing this. A couple of good hard frost helps too.

 

[Wyoming Hart]

In July of 2015, I came down with a heart issue requiring a pacemaker. When I went to the emergency room the doctor immediately diagnosed it all from Lyme's Disease. My father removed a tick from the back of my neck at the end of May after turkey hunting. After taking Doxycycline by port for the next 2 months everyday, I was able to recover in time to go elk hunting in Wyoming in October. I don't have any lingering affects from it other than the pacemaker check ups every 3 months. The spring turkey season here in PA is the only time I really notice/pick up any ticks when hunting. I do find them on deer in October/November/December when working them up, but can't say I have found them on me other times of the year.

 

[go4thegusto]

My brother got hammered by Lyme and will likely never be the same. We send garments to InsectShield to be treated.
Treat at least a few outdoor pants. Tuck in to socks or treat gaitors. Shower right when you get home.
This disease is no joke.
I understand with all the mRNA technology fast tracked due to Covid that a 2023 Lyme vaccine is coming.
Sign me up.

 

[TSAMP]

Yikes. Seems like a few of you folks discovered it far after the tick bite. What tipped you over the edge to get checked out? I have pulled a couple off this year but typically don't worry about it since I've never seen a rash or much redness at the bite site.

 

[Afhunter1]

Here are some facts:

The test is garbage. If you have unexplained symptoms after a tick bite just call your Dr. and get Doxy. Don't wait for results that are 50% accurate at best. You can get false pos and false negs so neither result is accurate.

Tick can infect with lyme immediately. 24 hrs is old wives tale

Only way to remove a tick is to grab head with sharp tweezers and pull fast. No Vaseline, burn it off, glue, etc.

Deet does not work for ticks. Permethrin only!

Ticks will not freeze to death with cold and snow unless you have numerous days / weeks of below zero and no snow. Even then all ticks attached to any animal will be fine. You can get a tick in January the same as summer but since they are slowed down by cold is why you only see a few in winter but it is not because they aren't there.

Go to Tractor Supply / Farm Store and get a 10% permethrin concentrate for animals usually $20/Qt. Same stuff that's in the sawyers. You need to dilute it down to 19 parts water to 1 part concentrate. Make a gallon (121 oz water to 7 oz concentrate) and put it in a 5 gal pail. Soak your outdoor clothes for an hour then ring out and air dry. Don't let your cat near this stuff it will go tits up. Keep outdoor clothes in trash bag and change before and after you are outdoors. Put remainder in spray bottle and top off every couple weeks. You should be good for a season like this. I soak spring. summer, fall and top off every two three weeks with spray bottle. I spray my dog too when we are out bird hunting.

1 qt of Martins 10% concentrate will make 4.5 gal of sawyer .05% spray equivilent.

Inspect yourself and anyone else out with you.

I hunt with my 3 kids and we live in a HEAVILY infested area. I've had 60 - 100 ticks on me in a day before I knew what to do to stop them. Permethrin is what keeps us doing whatever we want to do outdoors. My kids have only had one tick imbedded between the three of them and they are 20, 17, & 14 now.

Permethrin is absorbed into our bodies if we are exposed to it and filtered out by liver and expelled through urine in a pretty fast amount of time. It has not been found to accumulate in a person or have any long term effects of use. I use it on bare skin all the time.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Look for the bullseye ring around the bite. Get treated right away and you should have no problems. Don't wait for bullseye ring to get big enough for target practice, At first sign go to Dr. get Doxy. And take ever dose.

 

[kloppy]

Cant imagine anywhere is worse than Long Island. I had countless embedded when I used to hunt there but no lyme's luckily. I was young and dumb at the time and took no preventative measures. The above preventative measures have worked for me. Permethrin is great. One more thing to add is that if you get into ticks, running your clothes in the dryer on high heat should kill them.