The Outdoors

By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist

I was just talking to my wife the other day and we were discussing how excited we were for the warmer weather that is soon to arrive. Her response with a laugh was that we could start our 2025 tick count again as a result. Last season we kept count of how many wood ticks we removed between the two of us. That total was 39.

Most of those were not attached, but a few were. The ticks we have in southwest Minnesota are commonly called  wood ticks but the more specific name is American Dog Tick. When it comes to ticks, I do not get freaked out like a lot of other folks. Dog ticks do not carry Lyme disease. The tick to worry about in that department is the deer tick.

Ticks tend to be common in early spring into mid-summer, but I do not have many to deal with after the 15th of July. You can do all sorts of things like spray all your clothes with DEET or permethrin. I have seen some who will tape their pant legs and shirt sleeves shut with tape to keep them from getting under your clothes.

My worst outing was on a wildlife property in which I was checking the water control outlet. I made the walk with another guy and when we got back to the truck, no more than ¼ of a mile, we each had over 100 ticks on us. I imagine we looked pretty stupid standing on a gravel road in our skivvies as we plucked the ticks one by one from every square inch of our pants and shirts.

When it comes to your dogs there are a few different ways you can manage this issue. There is a topical application which the dog absorbs though its skin that will either kill a tick currently attached or keep others from becoming attached.  There is also a more expense oral medication you can use to accomplish the same outcome. These treatments can last anywhere from 30-120 days. Dog ticks, as I said, do not spread Lyme disease but they can still transport Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever which I have had one experience with one dog, not my dog,  in over 30 years of dog experience. We sought vet treatment and the dog ended up fine.

The deer tick is a very different story. They are not common in southwest Minnesota, but there have been some reports that they are expanding their normal range. A deer tick, if left attached for 24-36 hours, can transmit Lyme disease and is serious in humans and dogs if it is not identified and treated in a timely manner. Deer ticks are tiny compared to dog ticks and much harder to find. You pull off an embedded dog tick and swipe the spot with alcohol and this pretty much does it for a dog tick.

I was hunting grouse in northern Wisconsin and ended up with a deer tick in my shoulder. It was removed and I ended up with a big red bullseye where it had been. This is a danger sign and needed to be looked at. I was fine, but the thing I remember most was that just lightly pressing on the bite area with my finger was really painful for more than a month after it was removed. On that same trip after the hunt, I lifted the dog I used that day onto the top of my dog trailer.  I took one swipe down his side with a furminator brush and then tapped it on the aluminum roof of the trailer. I lifted off the hair that had come along for the ride and I then counted nine deer ticks in that one swipe. I imagine that my dog had well over 100 deer ticks in total after only a few hours in the woods.

This is one reason I do not really hunt grouse in the north woods very often. I know the dog is protected by proper treatment, but I just cannot expose them to that level of risk. If you hunt grouse later in the season after there is some snow on the ground, these ticks are pretty much dormant by that time.

I guess the moral of this story is just to be aware of the risks ticks present and take the necessary precautions to make sure nothing happens to you or your four-legged hunting companions. When you get home from an outing with your sweetie, you can have your Alexa play the Brad Paisley song called “Ticks.” I would love to check you for ticks, honey!  Surely only for the safety benefits!

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If you have any questions, reach out to me at scottarall@gmail.com.