Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire My Brother Got Lyme Disease

Lyme Killed my brother. He lived in NC.

I keep the grass mowed tight around the house. It seems it keeps the ticks at bay. If me or the dogs go into the tall weeds the ticks attach. I have been watching this closely for years to see if my theory holds true and I see no evidence to the contrary.

I was living down in central Georgia. I had a big pet cat who spent a lot of time outside. On my one acre lot, I had about 15 fire ant mounds. I destroyed the fire ants. And then I noticed that the cat was getting covered in ticks. And I figured that fire ants must eat ticks. Fire ants gotta eat something.

I left the fire ants alone, and in 3 months, I had 15 fire ant mounds once again. And never saw another tick on my cat.

Started dousing my hunting clothes with permethrin some years back. Haven’t had a single tick since then, and they get pretty bad some years, both dog ticks and deer ticks. I lay it on pretty thick.

Seem to be down the last couple of years; none on the deer I killed.

I got Lyme in the late 90’s. Convincing a doctor to test me was tough. It took over a year to get one to do it. Went thru the treatment. No permanent damage. But I still have flare ups occasionally, mainly the return of facial muscle twitches in my left eyelid and cheek. I will say this, I had never felt so bad in my life as I did before being diagnosed and treated.

There are a number of tick borne illnesses. Several years, I got covered up with ticks while surveying land on the Tennessee River. A few days later, flu like symptoms showed up and got really bad. My doctor ran some tests and diagnosed me with Relapsing Fever. I took the standard course of antibiotics. Even with treatment, nearly killed me, and recovery was slow, a good six months.

Its out here on the west coast big time also. Youngest Daughter got it and it has really knocked her down. Its so bad here that they have a medical center devoted to it in Ukiah CA. We started using Repel while hunting around twenty years ago and not a tick since then using it. I highly advise anyone in the wood to use it or something like it. Also I was the first know person in California to contact Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Darn near killed me if my California Doctor hadn't taken an x-ray to a convention in Denver and two Doctors there told him what I had. That was 71 years ago.