My first tick

jack

Well-Known Member
I had been after this Roe buck for about a week. It was limping on a foreleg.
Shot at 2145hrs or so, neck shot and went straight down.
It was underweight and a 4 pointer. Had a look at the carcase before doing anything and I saw no ticks or keds.
So carried out the gralloch and slung in on my sticks and carried it 600 yards back home. Hung it and cleaned it.

Had a bath this moring as I was stiff from running earlier in the evening and noticed a small object on my right knee.
Out of the bath and took a closer look and it was a small tick.

The abdomen was not enlarged with my blood and it was less than 2mm accross but its teeth were in my skin.

I used the Trix tick lasso to remove it and it was so small it diasappeared into the hole in the end of the pen where the nylon loop goes.

I got it into an egg cup as per the photo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/67356568@N05/8956215463/lightbox/
Still alive and tried to get out.

Applied TCP to the area and will watch very closely for a skin reaction.

As its abdomen was not enlarged and it was so small am I right to think the risks are limited?

I hung my cammo jacket in the wardrobe over night so that was removed to air in case any more ticks are on it.
 
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the risk of infection (if it is a carrier) increases the longer the Tick is attached. I think if you find and remove them within a few hours you should be safe enough.

Only ever had two Ticks attached, both tiny and on my forearm at the same time. Some of the animals I have shot have had hundreds, and I have on other occasions sat down and picked a dozen or more off that were crawling up my trouser legs. Wearing wellies and tucking shirt/t-shirt in to trousers both seems to help. Oh, and using a Roe sack.
 
the risk of infection (if it is a carrier) increases the longer the Tick is attached. I think if you find and remove them within a few hours you should be safe enough.

Only ever had two Ticks attached, both tiny and on my forearm at the same time. Some of the animals I have shot have had hundreds, and I have on other occasions sat down and picked a dozen or more off that were crawling up my trouser legs. Wearing wellies and tucking shirt/t-shirt in to trousers both seems to help. Oh, and using a Roe sack.

Having had lymes disease, very wise to take precautions. My consultant did suggest that a single 200 mg tablet of doxycycline is very effective at knocking it on the head provided it is taken within a few hours of being bitten. Careful removal of any tick so as to avoid it vomiting into you is though the prime protection if you have been bitten.

The active ingredient in Smidge is a tick repellent, and you can get was in stuff for your clothing as well.
 
Having had lymes disease, very wise to take precautions. My consultant did suggest that a single 200 mg tablet of doxycycline is very effective at knocking it on the head provided it is taken within a few hours of being bitten. Careful removal of any tick so as to avoid it vomiting into you is though the prime protection if you have been bitten.

The active ingredient in Smidge is a tick repellent, and you can get was in stuff for your clothing as well.

I've already removed 3 ticks this year, my part of the scottish borders is infested with them, it's disgusting. use a roe sack, put the carcass in a heavy duty refuse sack instead of a removable liner, it's much cleaner to just bin it IMHO, and you can zip tie it rather than leave it open in the sack. wear surgical gloves when gralloching for a number of reasons, but also stops ticks crawling up your hands as easily. roll up your sleeves far so you can see and brush off any ticks quickly.

I also like to try and flick any obvious ticks off the deer before packing in the sack, and avoid having the dog unnecessarily sniff around and bring them into the house.

last year there was one day when I brushed off, I kid you not, between 100 and 200 ticks off the back of my lab when out stalking, there were coming on in batches of 20-30 at a time every ten minutes.

horrid little things...
 
my ground in scotland has a heavy infestation i am seriously thinking about buying some heavy duty bodybags from a medical supply to take my carcasses home as i have never seen so many ticks.
last time i skinned it there as it was literally crawling with them. this will stop all of the little buggers getting all over the van and gear i could pack them out with coolbox ice packs and we have a building to cool the carcass before the return journey.atb wayne
ps on a side note does anybody send in ticks to that site for checking out if they are lymes carrier?
 
my ground in scotland has a heavy infestation i am seriously thinking about buying some heavy duty bodybags from a medical supply to take my carcasses home as i have never seen so many ticks.
last time i skinned it there as it was literally crawling with them. this will stop all of the little buggers getting all over the van and gear i could pack them out with coolbox ice packs and we have a building to cool the carcass before the return journey.atb wayne
ps on a side note does anybody send in ticks to that site for checking out if they are lymes carrier?


just wait till you get pulled over by the plods, they check their records, you come up 'known', and with FAC..they flick the flashlight into the back of the van and see a row of bodybags! LOL...
 
Thanks, I am seeing the nurse this afternoon and will ask about the antibitoic tablet.
 
Thanks, I am seeing the nurse this afternoon and will ask about the antibitoic tablet.

unless there's a typical red circle/bulls eye, you'll have to be adament. I went to the GP twice with a red and inflamed area where there was a tick previously, and was told to F off home as it's not Lymes disease. Despite an official written complaint I still had no reply or interest whatsoever..the NHS is a farce, sorry to say.

I eventually decided to self-medicate on antibiotics I had in stock, whether it helped or not I don't know, but ludicrous people are left in those positions.

last time I was in A&E with a massive cut in my hand due to a slipped knife when gralloching, I sat in borders general for 6hrs in the waiting room, until I complained and walked out, then went into galashiels and had lunch with blood flowing from my hand, then drove back and asked if I had missed my slot,,no,not yet!

told them I had a flight that afternoon, just for the hell of it, they then saw me within 10 minutes! LOL...so next time you're in A&E, say you have a flight in 2hrs and bob's your uncle!

...do we pay NI contributions for this btw,,,just curious...suss...
 
I was stalking on Islay last week and on Saturday morning and felt something on my ass and realized it was a tick then went on to find a further 5 behind my knees :mad:, typically find their way into places you can't reach so got the missus to work with the O'Tom's.

Pick them up regularly on our ground in S.Ayrshire but 6 is a record for me!
 
a couple of years back i had one on the leg and one on the underside of my gonads were the eye cant see very difficult to remove, but it felt worse than me and i had no reaction
 
I think it is important to get a balance - there seem to be a lot of people paranoid about getting a single tick and many seem rather annoyed that their doc doesn't immediately treat them like an emergency case.

The truth is that many people who work and live in places where ticks are common get a lot of ticks in a year, I know one person who recently removed nearly 40 in one day, this person has never had Lyme though they would have been removing ticks most days during a long working life. Even among the folk I know who often remove as many ticks in a day as I might remove in a year Lyme is not a common complaint.

Given this I think awareness is a good thing, but keeping things in perspective is also useful. Having a tick, or even a flock of them, does not mean you have Lyme it just means that it is sensible to keep an eye out for the symptoms.
 
I consider myself a tick magnet. I would always have at least one attached after every outing during tick season,in places varying from my eyelashes to my privates. Since I bought a rovince shirt and trousers last year I have not had a tick while wearing them.
 
Having suffered a bout of Lyme's, take every precaution you can. If I've been handling deer, I always give myself a thorough check.
 
I was out Sunday with the boss's son and had some good sport killing ticks on my arms while waiting for deer -25 in the first 30 mins although it slowed down and i ended up with 28 in an hour before he shot a munty. When I got home I took 10 more out of my legs that I hadn't seen. The worst I have had is 86 coming up my legs after walking less than 300m in shorts through a pheasant pen when I was meant to be off work (would never dream of wearing shorts in a field or wood here normally)
 
I suffer incredibly bad hayfever (not exactly ideal being a gamekeeper) and I take antihistamine tablets every day. I don't know if its been proven with any science but my GP told me midges/ticks do not like to bite if your body contains antihistamine tablets. My experience would back this up, I have never been bitten by a midge or tick and I have stalked/worked in some really infested areas of Scotland and Cumbria. My tablets are on prescription but you can get cheap antihistamine tablets from the big supermarkets which would help I'm sure.
 
I have a couple of tips regarding ticks,first get some full length gloves that vets use, these combined with latex gloves work well,and also if you've had a carcass with lots on it or even been on ground that's heavily infested put all your clothes in the freezer over night that always fettles for the little beggars.
 
I think it is important to get a balance - there seem to be a lot of people paranoid about getting a single tick and many seem rather annoyed that their doc doesn't immediately treat them like an emergency case.

The truth is that many people who work and live in places where ticks are common get a lot of ticks in a year, I know one person who recently removed nearly 40 in one day, this person has never had Lyme though they would have been removing ticks most days during a long working life. Even among the folk I know who often remove as many ticks in a day as I might remove in a year Lyme is not a common complaint.

Given this I think awareness is a good thing, but keeping things in perspective is also useful. Having a tick, or even a flock of them, does not mean you have Lyme it just means that it is sensible to keep an eye out for the symptoms.

It only takes one if it's the right one to give you Lyme's.

Jimbo
 
me and swatty got back from a weekend stalking trip to scotland on sunday and were literally hanging with the buggers, as soon as you moved through cover they were on you, everything from a pin head size up to 3-4 mm
one of the deer shot was covered from head to foot in keds and ticks it must have been extremly irritating and possibly debilitating.
when we got home I jumped in the shower and found 4 more swatty (in a different shower I might add) had for loads on
him and even had the wife the remove one form his nuts, he suggested the best way to remove it was by sucking but she wasn't having any of it.
god loves a trier.
 
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