I suspect the grasshoppers had burrowed down in a sage grass and gone dormant....I guess the gobblers thought they were good or they wouldn't have gorged themselves on them.
Ticks are dormant in the leaf litter....when I fall hunted in December and January I treated my clothes with perminone....more than once I got ticks on me after warning up the ground for several hours in 30 degree weather.
I took a fellow fall hunting with me once before dark we got up and left....as we left he remarked thats the longest I have ever sat in one spot....I replied I didn't think it was that long. I recall it being about 6 or 7 hours. No kills that day had a couple turkeys come in behind us presenting no shot. The next morning we got in there before light and best I recall the guy killed at least one.
