Is the tick level, or is it not, a generally good measure of the deer density?

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Yesterday when out scouting, filling feeder, etc., I got about 50 ticks on me literally. Probably pulled off 20 not dug in, and 25+ dug in. Like an idiot, I wore shorts, and no permethrin. It was brutal. Yes, I know we've had lots of rain and they're bad everywhere, but that aside, ceteris paribus, it is a general clue that high ticks = high deer, and low ticks=lower deer density, if scouting an area? I've got a feeling that there's more in this particular area that I had initially surmised, but maybe it's just the rain, etc. - hunted this area for the first time 2 years ago.


Also, yesterday working like a dog in that heat with god's insect creatures, reminded me of a scene from Saving Private Ryan. Y'all remember that scene where Oppum is asking the Captain whether he needs to take his typewriter on the mission, and the Captain simply holds up his pencil without saying a word? Well, yesterday, if someone would have seen me in the woods, and how I looked afterward, and then simply said "hey look at this crazy new invention":

[Broken External Image]

I would probably have thought "You're right - what in the hell am I DOING out here - why do I hunt at all, for #$%#$^ sake?!"

 

[Danny]

I've never known tick density as a determining factor for deer density. There's lots of other food sources for them. A good controlled burn is the best way to solve that problem without getting rid of the deer. In fact, makes it better when the fresh grasses pop up.

 

[sesh]

I've never heard that either, but I won't say it ain't so. We had a controlled burn down at our lease and it made a significant difference in the tick population it seems, then the landowner moved cows in and it seems like they're worse again.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

OK, thanks. Do you mean just an understory controlled burn, or a full out burn of some of the trees/canopy?

I didn't mean to imply that I think deer eat ticks, if that's what you mean - just saying that where's there's lots of deer, there's lots of ticks, so the corollary would probably be true, too - where's there's lots of ticks, there's lots of deer. In otherwords, not a determining factor, but a directly correlated by-product.

 

[sesh]

The landowner for our place tried an all out to get rid of the dead stuff like leaves, from under the canopy. It did real good in some spots but not in others, I think it was a little too wet when they did it.

 

[bigcountryok]

Permathrin is your friend.... Don't enter the woods without it on long pants until the first freeze. I know it’s hot, but the diseases those little suckers carry is much worse.

No, I've never known tick levels to be an indicator of deer population. There are lots of other hosts such as scouting hunters (LOL) they can prey on.

And the meat from that store is no where near as good or rewarding as fresh venison you kill.

 

[BadgerLB]

i contracted rocky mountain fever when i was 4... nasty stuff for sure... cover up when you're out there, my fever peaked at 105 or 106 degrees... lyme disease is even worse since you don't really ever get rid of it.

 

[Danny]

OK, thanks. Do you mean just an understory controlled burn, or a full out burn of some of the trees/canopy?

I didn't mean to imply that I think deer eat ticks, if that's what you mean - just saying that where's there's lots of deer, there's lots of ticks, so the corollary would probably be true, too - where's there's lots of ticks, there's lots of deer. In otherwords, not a determining factor, but a directly correlated by-product.

I think the more accurate description would be, where there are a lot of deer, there is a lot of ticks. Like you mentioned. But, coyotes, turkeys, squirrels, birds, rabbits, fox, cattle, etc., are all tick food. Based on that, the reverse would not necessarily be true.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Interesting, I didn't know that they got on birds, too. Thanks. I guess, though, in the absence of cattle, and on this land, there are no turkeys either, I thought it was a reasonable opinion, given that squirrel levels don't seem high either, and the rest are about the same everywhere.

 

[SMS]

There is some research out there that suggests a link between deer population and tick population....I stumbled on it when looking into methods of controlling ticks in a military unit training area.

I'll see if I can find the study, but it was based on the real experience of reducing the tick population in Lyme, CT following the Lyme disease outbreak.

Granted, the correlation is reverse...the reduction of the tick population by treating the deer population for ticks. But there is a connection...in one test, they completely eliminated the tick larval population in a 15 acre test area by eliminating the deer population and putting up a game fence to keep the deer away.