caddisguy's ultimate tick experiment

[AgSilver]

Be careful...a close friend has Lyme and it's awful. She gets forgetful, exhausted, out of sorts, etc. Kinda sucks when I'm paying her to do work for me!

[blindcast]

Change doctors quickly. Who knows what other misinformation he might be foisting off on you. On your way out the door, hand your doc the March/April issue of Western Woods & Waters magazine or give him the link to the Spring issue North American Deer Hunter Magazine (online). Both have excellent articles on ticks and the diseases they carry. Could prove informative reading for your doctor.

[mastercaster]

I think if I was going to do a test like this I'd be more inclined to hit more than just the one area. It's possible the area you hunt while having a high tick population, they may not be carriers but if you were to go one valley over maybe the tick population there has some culprits that could pass on the Lyme disease. I really think it would be more beneficial if you hit 4-5 area and took 4-5 sample from each of those areas to give you a better cross section.

On a bother note, I'm not taking any chances with my 3 1/2 month old pup. She's already taking the monthly tick and flea pill but she also got a Lyme vaccination the last time we went to the vet a couple of weeks ago. She has to go back in a few weeks to get the booster for it. Even though only 5-10% of dogs get Lyme disease when bitten from ticks I figure why take the chance.

You'd think if there were pills dogs could take to ward off or kill ticks and fleas they'd be able to develop such a pill and a Lyme Disease vaccination for human beings.

[boxhitch]

That stuff works for me until I step out of the truck lol

Far better off to use a permethrin product to kill the B@$+@rds , more effective and longer lasting
Can be made at home from concentrate, or bought as a spray for horses and livestock.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

So the tick thread on the Van Island section got my wheels spinning.

I have talked to my doctor a few times about Lyme but he tells me it is virtually non-existant West of the Rockies. At the same time, I have seen maps that show places in southwest BC (my hunting spot included) listed as high risk. I am curious who is right, as I get bit several times a year. To date I have had over 50 ticks in me and hundreds on me. Very few engorged for more than a day.

I read about a test kit called "Care Plus Tick Test" and found it at London Drugs. It is going to cost me quite a bit, but why not? This experiment is going to be wicked cool.

I am going to by 15-20 test kits at around $15 each. I am going to collect 15 adult deer ticks from my hunting spot (I can do this just by walking through a little brush in painter gear)

This will either put me at ease or educate a doctor. Either way it is going to be an awesome win.

Downside is it will cost me $200-300 but it will give me something to mess around with this weekend if there are still no bears around my area.

I am excited. Anyone else interested in this experiment or am I just nuts?

This is a great idea and amazing! You're right to be excited. Thank you for doing this research for us. People blow way more money than that daily. People also live off of way less monthly.

It's all a matter of perspective. Enjoy your research!

[scotty30-06]

I hunt a lot in region 2..probably similar areas as you and never been bite or hell even seen any down here.

[caddisguy]

mastercaster hitting multiple areas in Region 2 crossed my mind as it would certainly be more representative of the entire region. I definitely had some decisions to make about the parameters of the test. The reason we decided to stick with one area is that we did not want the testing to spread too thin. We want to be able to detect Lyme presence as low as 5-10%. My logic could be off, but I believe an area which has a higher concentration of ticks is will also have a higher concentration of Lyme as it has the vehicle to spread.

Also, the reason this area has a high concentration of ticks is because animals from all over use the habitat. Some might have seen my other posts showing this, but despite it being Region 2, the habitat is used by whitetails, moose, along with mules, Blacktails, bobcats, cougars, bears, grouse, etc. There is also a large variety of birds, rodents and lizards. What I am getting at, is the ticks from this one little pocket are coming from all over the place and will hitch rides all over the place. Guaranteed this spot will be fairly representative of Chilliwack, Hope, but will somewhat implicate areas further out like Manning, Princeton, etc by animals with 4 legs alone. Right now those ticks are all waiting around where they nested on trails they picked up animal urine. They are eagerly waiting to hitch rides on the bears. With all the birds, I can't even guess. This is the reason we decided to focus on this one area and be as thorough as possible.

Boxhitch raised a good point about the test saying it is for ticks that have bitten you. I would think this is just so people don't go around testing every tick they catch crawling as there is no point... at least for normal people. I would think the less "food" in the ticks stomach means a higher concentration of bacteria, making the test more accurate. That said, if the test depends on any sort of reaction with said bacteria and blood, this test will be skewed towards false negatives. I would need to get some answers and if necessary we could do a second phase on ticks taken from a bear.

I am going to pick up those test kits today... should get an interesting look!!

[J_T]

I've had a lot of exposure to ticks so consequently, like mosquitoes, I never worry about them. Just pluck em and burn em. I am becoming a bit more aware of the concerns with Lyme disease, so I would be interested in your results.

[albravo2]

Call me a wet rag, but living with Lyme for the past 5 years has made me a bit cranky. I feel like someone should be pointing out that your survey is far from scientific proof of anything. You are talking about sampling a minute number of ticks over a minute time period in a minute portion of a minute corner of BC.

And that assumes your 'test kit' is scientifically accurate to start with.

If you come up with zero incidence of Lyme you would be unwise to stop worrying about it. Similarly, if you come up with a 100% incidence of Lyme you would be unwise to stop going into the woods.

I think those kits are meant to test ticks that you pull off after they have already bitten. If you are bit every time you go into the woods, I'd consider the kit rather than living on antibiotics after every hunting or scouting trip. Weird thing about Lyme is it can live undetected in your system for decades, then hit you like a ton of bricks.

All that said, it sounds like a fun experiment. I just wouldn't count on it as proof or disproof of anything with consequences like Lyme.

[caddisguy]

Be careful...a close friend has Lyme and it's awful. She gets forgetful, exhausted, out of sorts, etc. Kinda sucks when I'm paying her to do work for me!

This testing will be done very safely. The risk of being bitten will be far less than the average day hunting. I will be suited up in white coveralls instead of camo and everything will be sealed up pretty good and caddisgirl will be checking me immediately after quick dips in the brush. I might even get fancy with stick wrapped with a white towel and a hand warmer inside. Urine might or might not be involved.

It is going to be funny if we run into another hunter or any sort of outdoor user this weekend. Very slim change, but it will be particularly funny we down a bear wearing all white. With that in mind, if we do see significant sign, tick catching will become more reactive than proactive and will likely spread across two weekends instead of one.