Many years ago, when we lived in southwest Oregon, we had loads and loads of ticks. It was revolting, but it was life. We learned to keep a can of soapy water next to the sink during tick season so we could drop ticks we found on the dogs (or on us) into the water. The soap broke up the surface tension of the water, and the ticks would sink to the bottom.
When we moved to Idaho in 2003, we had fewer ticks. Some years were worse than others, but overall it was a lot better than Oregon.
Here in our current location, we have almost zero ticks. Maybe – maybe – once a summer, we'll find a tick or two on Mr. Darcy, but overall it's almost a tick-free environment.
We didn't give much thought to this phenomenon until a man at our church put forth what I'm calling "The Tick Theory." We don't have ticks because we have turkeys. Loads and loads of turkeys.
As I'm mentioned before, turkeys are nature's Roombas. All year long, flocks of these gigantic prehistoric-looking birds roam around, pecking at anything they find that's vaguely edible. At certain times of the year, it's not unusual to see flocks numbering in the dozens. Get one of these flocks sweeping slowly across fields and woodlands, and yeah – no ticks. Makes sense.
I'd far rather have turkeys than ticks.
I live in Michigan. I didn't pull a tick off myself until I was in my early 50s. Now it is an almost daily thing in the spring.
ReplyDeleteMy "take" on the explosion in ticks, and tick borne diseases is that almost nobody burns the dead-grass along roads and ditches any more. That used to be a universal practice, to burn off the old thatch to expose the new grass shoots to sunlight.
But the EPA and concern about air quality put the kibosh on that practice. Consequently there is ample food-and-cover for the mice and gophers which are one of the hosts for ticks. Ticks and tick eggs are not killed with heat. Bad deal all the way around.
Historic fact; The Native-Americans deliberately set fires in the eastern US to keep forest floors clear of cover. Interesting article here: https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/fire-frequency/ with this picture: https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/map-fire-freq.jpg being the money-shot.
Oh, I forgot to say "in late-winter or very early-spring"
DeleteTicks do not like me, so I am fortunate in that regards, mosquitoes on the other hand are a different story... I worked wildlife/forestry jobs across north Idaho in the past, from the Canadian border down to Lewiston, never really encountered much in the way of ticks, in all the years, only ever pulled one out of myself and rarely even had them on me, same went for the people I worked with. they just don't seem to have a super high population, you don't find a lot on wildlife either. Now that I live in south-central Idaho, the desert is loaded with ticks, so you wait until the ranchers release cattle and wait a week and then venture out and the tick population is drastically lower since they are all on cows. My theory is that they really like grassy type plants and prefer those over larger shrubs and trees. I say that because this year we had a horrible tick problem earlier in the summer, not with the humans but with our barn cats, the only thing different was that the canal company did not mow along their ditches until way late in the season when the grass was super tall and overgrown. Every day I would pull at least 2-5 ticks off each cat, usually it's just 1-2 per year total. As soon as the canal company mowed, literally the next day, no more ticks, haven't seen a single one the rest of the summer. We don't have turkey here, but do have quail and other birds that eat a lot of bugs on the ground, so they probably eat a lot of the ticks too. But I agree with the above poster that mentioned fire. In the western US we still have a lot of fires go through the area, which would kill off a lot of the undergrowth and therefore the ticks, where in the Midwest and east, they don't allow any fire activity and now they have huge tick problems.
ReplyDeleteAnd some of the newer varieties of ticks makes me worry. Especially the one that makes you allergic to meat. After all I do enjoy a good steak or beef dinner. I believe in the PETA slogan, People Eating Tasty Animals.
ReplyDeleteGood to know about turkeys makes perfect sense. We have quite a few turkeys around here and their babies are quite a few. When we encounter them we just stop the car and wait, they all don't come out at the same time just dribs and drabs. I once counted 19 babies while mama waited on the other side of the road.
ReplyDeleteHere in the Hamptons, we have tons of turkeys and tons of ticks.
ReplyDelete25 years ago I got lyme disease. The wife read that Gunnies were good for ticks so we got some and still do after 2 moves. The mothers do not last long as we have to many Coyotes but the males still sweep through our 15 acres doing their job!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your latest book.
I've been told over the years, that if you have ticks in your yard, a Guinea Fowl or two, will clean them out quickly.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine here in the Hamptons raised guinea fowl and he said the same.
DeleteWe don't have coyotes or other predators here. Thus, too many deer, too many turkeys etc. I think the largest predator we have are foxes.
Patrice, Something I learned from Kenny over at knuckeldraging blog was to add a garlic pill to my vitamin regiment. Everyday through out the year. My Dad and I own a 40 in north central Wisconsin and ticks were a huge problem. The garlic pills seem to work. The garlic pills won't stop them from crawling on you, but they won't or don't like to bite. In the past 5-6 years, I have only one to latched on. My Dad only had one as well. I used to shoot or trap possums but I have learned they eat a lot of ticks. So I leave them alone and the racoons unless they get a bit mischievous. We also have a flock of about 15 turkeys hanging around..
ReplyDeleteTurkeys, Guineas, and Possums are the biggest consumers of ticks. My buddy that is the local "good ol boy" in charge of nuisance animal removal in town stopped killing possums several years ago when he read this. Started taking them out to his hunting property that had a huge tick problem, he's probably dropped 30 of them out there at this point and doesn't see ticks anymore.
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