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How do most of you guy's handle tick's while skinning deer?

Not that I'am a puss , but just wondering?

Thanks,
jr1968.

Having dealt with my fourth case of Lyme Disease I've learned to handle them as little as I can. Most times when I enter the woods where I now live I return with a tick or ticks. If I spray exterior of all clothes with Permethrin, put Deet on all exposed skin except above the eyes but including hair they tend to stay away. The same regiment is followed gutting and when skinning the whitetail. I live East of the Hudson River where it is reported that we have the largest infestation per given area in US. I hear of other ares where they are really thick but the medical people tell us that this is ground zero.

Long gloves treated with Permethrin, tucked in long sleeve shirt buttoned up high and treated with Permethrin , pants treated the same, deet on exposed skin, and skin away.

X2

My camp is in Southeastern Washington Co. NY. We hang our bucks at least a week with hide on before we start to butcher them in camp. Even after a week ticks are still present on the hide. We place a bucket of water under the deer's head to catch any ticks falling off and at the same time spray the area underneath the deer with Permethrin. Permethrin is the only way to go. Head to toe. Check Check Check your body. They don't have a handle on this lyme stuff yet. Web

Spray them

I remember the time one of my neighbors was skinning an early bow kill in his backyard and multiple ticks were crawling off that hide. The wood ticks I don't much worry about, but those smaller deer ticks are the ones that will infect you with Lymes. An influx of deer ticks into the neighborhood was a terrible thought. I freeze my deer hides in a plastic garbage bag and that kills any ticks still on the hide. I've read that a guy should put a water with alcohol drip pan under a cooling deer to kill the ticks that drop off before they get in the yard.

Okay prevention is worth a pound of cure, but here is what you do right now. Call your doctor and have him write you a prescription for Doxycycline Mono 100MG caplets. If you get a deer tick embedded take two of those capsules to prevent being infected. They are a little pricey at $5.00 a pill, so you probably won't need a 30 pill bottle like I got, but it sure beats the debilitating effects of getting Lymes. Those pills are with me in my over night kit when ever I'm in deer country.

Now there is a new tick born decease even worse than Lymes, but that name escapes me right now. My boss had stage 3 Lymes and he spent the entire week of a sales meeting with his arm bent up over his head because his shoulder hurt so much. Two guys in the shop had time release syringes taped into their arms because they had contacted Lymes disease. Years ago I saw very few of those smaller deer ticks. Not so anymore. It gives a guy pause if he even wants to go out in the long grass during tick season. I went and took down a deer stand one July up north and had over 30 ticks on me when I got back. That isn't counting all the ones that I brushed off along the way. Ticks can be bad news.

Not for nothing, and I'm happy you're willing to share your stories...but it's Lyme disease not Lymes. And I'm quite surprised any MD would write a Rx for Doxy for you without a "need"...especially for 30 pills given the recommended dosage is as you described; 2 pills.

That said, ticks are indeed "bad news" as you say. And the ounce of prevention can be as simple as checking yourself over. If I'm not mistaken, NH is one of the states with the the highest rate of Lyme disease per capita and the little critters are out in force right now. I'm taking multiple ticks off the dogs every day and a check myself over if I've spent any amount of time outside or in the woods. But they're a fact of life now. I've gotten used to them as much as I dislike them.

I rope my deer around the neck and throw em off in a low water bridge running creek till I get through hunting Sunday nights at sundown, guess they all drown, have never had any tick problems.

Right you are as the name came from Lyme Connecticut with the dubious distinction of where it was first diagnosed back in 1975. I had a prescription for Amoxicillin and mentioned that to another doc and was told that the Doxycycline was way better. The problem with the "need" is that when you need the meds you are off in the hinterland somewhere and a long way from the doc for a prescription or the drug store and maybe on the weekend.

That other way worse than Lyme Disease deer tick born disease is called Powassan Virus. If you want to scare yourself about deer ticks Google that one! 16 cases in Wisconsin and 20 in Minnesota, so it is here as well as the North East. Infection occurs in as little as 15 minutes which results in inflammation of the brain and leads to death or permanent disability in 60% of the cases.

First, pyrethrin is every bit as lethal to ticks as permethrin is, but it is much less toxic to humans and other mammals.

Second, Doxycycline is not necessary, nor even a good idea. Any antibiotic effective on gram negative bacteria will kill borrelia. Dox tends to produce allergic reactions altogether too frequently. Ciprofloxacin is what they switched to in the middle of the big anthrax scare in 2011/12 because so many people were turning up allergic to dox. Cipro also produces a lot of allergic reaction, so a conversation with your doctor is warranted. Cipro and dox produce allergic reaction because the initial exposure route for them is in your food (pork and chicken).

Third, The ticks on the outside of the deer are not a big problem. Cut yourself while gutting, skinning or butchering (if you butcher immediately) and you will need to keep the cut protected as the borrelia can be at very high numbers in deer blood.

All of the above posters gave great info, whether deer hunting or out in the woods with the dog/kids.

I've had Lyme 4 times, it's a serious health problem long term no matter what prescription is taken. Hope you're one of the people that get bullseye rashes from the bite, because otherwise Lyme can remain undetected and cause serious permanent damage.

Be safe out there

My understanding we are have had a few people that have had the Powassan Virus. here in upstate NY. Saratoga ,Warren, Or Washington Counties. Not good. ------ I've spent 100's of hours in the woods this year in southern Washington Co. with very few deer ticks on me. I avoid very much so Goldenrod patches at field edges . It's nothing to pick 8-10 ticks off ya in a 10 yard walk through goldenrod. Web

Since sis is a medical doctor out in Montana I ran the question past her about what she would recommend as a treatment for Lyme.

"I've never used Cipro for Lyme. It's not the usual first step and has some nasty side effects, like tendon rupture."

The medical sites on the Internet do mention Amoxicillin and Doxycycline as treatments for Lyme. Reading in my book "Worst Pills Best Pills" also has a warning separate block in big black capital letters saying: "Increased risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture with all Fluoroquinolone antibiotics" and Ciprofloxacin is a Fluoroquinoline antibiotic. As a guy who has ruptured his Achilles tendon, you don't want that or take something that could contribute to it happening. With nothing too much better to do today I talked with the pharmacist while I was at the local Walmart and he did confirm that Cipro is cheaper than Doxycycline, but it is kind of a moot point if it isn't recommended for Lyme. I wouldn't care how much a pill cost if I could avoid getting Lyme. He said that "Amoxicillin won't touch it" and that Doxycycline is the first recommended treatment.

All deer ticks thankfully do not carry the Lyme virus because the tick needs an intermediate host which is usually a field mouse. Maybe keeping some of those feral cats or foxes around as mousers isn't such a bad idea after all.