Winter ticks are ruining my hunts

[fishnguy]

A quick update. First,

Originally Posted by fishnguy

I ordered a couple of bottles of Sawyer permethrin spray from the US. We will see what happens and if it gets over the border.

They sent me an email saying they cannot ship Sawyer to Canada. Grrrr…

On the positive note, the spray I talked about above works pretty well. It was checked in the “hornets’ nest”, lol. They try to drop off you as soon as they get hooked. Still no test on how long it works though because I kind of don’t want to go and find out that it doesn’t work when covered in ticks. I still have two bites from September 2, I believe, that get itchy once in a while. Going away now though. Crazy how it works.

[Alberta Bigbore]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Got chewed up real good last week in 936. Couple days later I soaked myself, and every layer of clothing, in deep woods off. Used up half a can, almost to the point of making me sick of the smell. 1 hour into the hunt, look down, covered in ticks. Didn’t get as many bites, but I caught them sooner.

Miserable little jerks. I will be using permethrin next time. Everyone who has done jungle work swears by it.

936? Crazy. Ive never seen one on me and ive hunted 936 for over 20 years. Not to mention alot of private land not far.

[fishnguy]

^ I haven’t seen one either until two years ago, when I saw many, lol. And it’s been really getting worse from there. This year is much worse than last and the one before. They are everywhere in the valley, from top to bottom and beyond. I went for a quick elk hunt tonight and had my pants covered within minutes. I didn’t take picture of the pants, but I took the ones below. First, I thought “oh, look, I finally found a tick while still on the grass!”:



See that dot there! That is it, it’s a tick. There are actually 5 or 6 of them, but hard to see on the pic. Then, a minute or so later, I found more, lol:



And more:



And more:



And a little more:



On that ^ one, you can actually see them one one plant in front (out of focus) and on another (less out of focus, lol) behind.

Then I put my bugle on the fence post not far away to take a couple more pics, trying to get some in focus, and:



Yes, that would a fence post! Lol. I estimated there are about two gazillion of them in those photos alone. Here are a couple of “close-ups” for a good night sleep:



There are hundreds of them sitting one on top of the other and the other… And here, you can actually see them spreading their little ****ing legs waiting to grab on to someone:



Did I mention my pants? Yes, I should have snapped a photo or two. The spray does work though. There were a few, however, that caught a ride pretty much all the way home with me, but I am pretty sure those expired soon after.

Good night and sweet dreams!

[bonedogg]

oh my freakin' lord......... the ol' truck blind seems appealing after them pics! jeepers creepers!!!!

thanks for sharing the information and pictures as always, super informative.

[Predator]

If anyone is looking for some Sawyer permethrin, I might have a line on some.

[Ticdoc]

Just saw your 2022 posts. That last picture on vegn with the tick legs so obvious waiting for you/elk/deer/moose to pass by tells the whole story. And, if you have my book you will see that some of the legs of those ticks are interlocked with others in those clumps so that if one tick catches on to a host it drags others with it as well.

[Moosetalker]

Nasty little buggers we need a surge in the long nosed shrew population they eat ticks.

[JeanCretien]

I am just finishing a hunt in northern Alberta and they have been terrible this week when it’s hot.
I thought the red ones are chiggers?


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[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by Ticdoc

Just saw your 2022 posts. That last picture on vegn with the tick legs so obvious waiting for you/elk/deer/moose to pass by tells the whole story. And, if you have my book you will see that some of the legs of those ticks are interlocked with others in those clumps so that if one tick catches on to a host it drags others with it as well.

Hey Doc,

I sent you an email a few days ago to the same address as before.



The pics above were taken in 523. I was in 522 last weekend and it is the same there around both, Peace and Smoky Rivers, down and up the valleys, lol. In 522, about 2 minutes after I started hiking:



Thanks to a gent taking a trip to the US, I am now in possession of this:



We will see how that works in comparison to the dog/cat spray with pyrethrin I used this season. Will report back when I get to using it.

[fishnguy]

To update on that Sawyer spray. While I haven’t ran into gazillion of the ticks after spraying my clothing with it, I ran into enough to say that it probably works better than the “cat/dog” spray I experimented with prior. Too bad we can’t buy it here in Canada.

[fishnguy]

Moved here from another thread to keep it in one place, I guess (and not to “pollute” in the other thread):

Originally Posted by Sooner

I have a friend with property up in 348. He said last year, moose all over, this year, nada. Ticks took a lot out last winter from what he seen on his place. Sure sucks. I am seeing it east of Edmonton where my moose draw is. Noticeable lack of moose numbers compared to the last couple years.

Good luck though. Lots of November left. The snow should help.

Originally Posted by depopulator

There was a major winter tick moose die off in 348, at least in the local area of our land which borders crown northwest of Chip Lake. We found 4 dead 1-3 year old bulls (all bulls) this spring (May-June) within less than 1/2 mile of our land. If the rest of the unit experienced a similar die-off from what we found locally, I would think it will be tough finding one.

Originally Posted by fishnguy

I was told by a prof that there was a major moose die off in Alberta last winter-spring and it was a first in many years. I can only find the records of the previous ones (late 80’s and 98-99), but nothing of this past season yet.

The main reason are winter ticks. Many of you probably read my threads about the ticks and they are a major problem around these parts and many others. I am not seeing much moose around here this season in places where I usually see plenty.

The last two years the ticks were insane and this die off was predictable. This year is significantly worse - I have found them in various quantities everywhere I went, literally, every place with a couple of exceptions. My guess is there will be even less moose next year yet. Some places have close to 100% mortality in calves and significant decrease in moose population as a result, in particular northeastern United States and Maritimes here in Canada. Shorter winters and longer summers probably play a significant role in these developments. Last two years snow cover here was gone before the end of March. There is very little stopping these things from hatching by millions. Each female can lay over five thousands eggs and a moose would host about 35,000 ticks on average with more infested ones hosting over 60K before they, in many cases, expire. You do the math. I can collect as many within an hour or two on myself when in the bush (if I try, I can do it a lot faster than an hour too, lol). Moose live in that habitat. It’s a real problem and something’s gotta give. It appears that either we will have some “normal” winters or moose population will take a huge hit in some or many areas of the province (some probably already did). My guess is first nations’ harvest is nothing in comparison to this problem.

Originally Posted by FortMac

Would this be what's decimating the caribou herds around North America?

Nope. That’s a different issue. These guys overwhelmingly prefer moose for their “home”. They do infest deer, elk, and caribou to a much smaller degree; they have also been found on bears, beavers (!), goats and sheep, bison, wolves and coyotes.

It seems the only way to reduce the population of these nasties is by either removing moose or controlled burns of the areas. Can’t burn the whole river valleys other best moose habitat and, it appears, they remove moose on their own pretty well. So there isn’t much we can do about it. Snow helps a lot because when females drop off the host in March-April and fall on snow, they aren’t likely to survive to lay the eggs. Since there hasn’t been much/any snow that time of year for the past few years, we have what we have. My guess is that in all likelihood, moose population will be thinned out greatly before it gets better (does it get better?) because warmer springs with less or no snow are likely here to stay. We will see what happens.

[JeanCretien]

They are back already with a vengeance.


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[fishnguy]

^ Gotta be something else. I don’t believe their eggs hatch until late summer or early fall. But given the weather we had, it is going to be brutal this fall, I have no doubt. Seems like really hard times for moose are coming, at least in this area.

Where did you find them? Did you snap a pic?

[fishnguy]

So… A bump for the info sharing purposes.

I have been out a few times this year, not nearly enough for my liking. Surprisingly, I have seen a few of these buggers every outing, very little, nothing like last year or the year before. I even worked out a theory in my (uneducated on the subject) head that maybe it was a dry and hot spring/early summer and their eggs dry up in the dryness of the heat. I mean it was brutal this year, above 30 degrees on the thermometer almost constantly and no rain starting in April!

Today, I have hit a few jackpots hiking the same place and trails I have been on just a few days ago. Literally, exact same trails and there was almost nothing there. Today, there were plenty. The difference between now and few days ago is it is cooler (but it happened before, though now it really cooled down in comparison) and there was a good rain (steady light rain for a day and a half or so).







That last pic I took when I noticed them right before getting into the vehicle to go home. I know they were caught on just moments previously because it only takes it a few minutes for most of them to fall off from the pants that were previously sprayed with permethrin. The funny part is that there is hardly any vegetation there above ankles or so and these buggers still found their way. I sprayed the pants with permethrin pictured a few posts above about 4-ish weeks ago and it works great still. Before I forget to mention, the bottles kind of suck and they will leak if not in upright position. I found out the hard way type of thing when that bottle fell at the back of my SUV and plenty had spilled.

So, when I saw them before driving away, I grabbed a store receipt I had lying on the passenger’s seat and I used it to rub them off. It worked amazingly well. They probably don't enjoy the heat generated by friction, in addition to squeezing (and, of course, the sprayed pants). Anyway, I thought if you don’t have the spray (though other options were described and tested on the previous page) some paper in your pocket may be your friend.

Good luck to all this year!

[JeanCretien]

Thanks very much for the update. I took advice from this thread and sprayed perm. Too. So far so good. Last year on the same trails o was covered. This year I’m not see much. Fingers crossed.


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[fishnguy]

^ Right on. I haven’t seen too many this year until this last outing; few every time, but nothing crazy. The thing works great though and they want to get off as soon as they catch on and so they do as you continue walking rubbing them off the grass, brush, and whatever else that helps to shake them off.

Also, someone asked if it would be a problem if you bring a bunch of these fellas home. The answer would a be a no because they cannot survive too long in a pretty dry air environment such as our houses, especially this time of year with furnaces running (sometimes). In my personal “experiments”, they expired in the garage (unheated) in a couple of days, as outlined in this thread, and at home on a piece of Scotch tape they were dead the next day, if I recall correctly.

Per the same member asking the question, sounds like quite an infestation was spotted north of Hinton this season.

[32-40win]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

Hey Doc,

I sent you an email a few days ago to the same address as before.



The pics above were taken in 523. I was in 522 last weekend and it is the same there around both, Peace and Smoky Rivers, down and up the valleys, lol. In 522, about 2 minutes after I started hiking:



Thanks to a gent taking a trip to the US, I am now in possession of this:



We will see how that works in comparison to the dog/cat spray with pyrethrin I used this season. Will report back when I get to using it.

My money says you probably can't buy it in Canada because of the labelling not being dual language labelling. I expect if you talked to Sawyer themselves, they'd maybe be able to confirm or deny that. There are products we couldn't get from US because of that, but, you could get from Cdn Tire, as they paid to have it captive labelled by the mfgr, as they could justify it on the order quantity. In some cases, you could bring it in, but, because of WHMIS, had to keep it in the back room, as it wasn't allowed on a display shelf because of no dual labelling. We had someone complain about something on the shelf like that, forget what, polish I think, got a letter from the gubment on it,threatening fines for having it out front. May be worth a call to check on that.

[300magman]

Originally Posted by 32-40win

My money says you probably can't buy it in Canada because of the labelling not being dual language labelling. I expect if you talked to Sawyer themselves, they'd maybe be able to confirm or deny that. There are products we couldn't get from US because of that, but, you could get from Cdn Tire, as they paid to have it captive labelled by the mfgr, as they could justify it on the order quantity. In some cases, you could bring it in, but, because of WHMIS, had to keep it in the back room, as it wasn't allowed on a display shelf because of no dual labelling. We had someone complain about something on the shelf like that, forget what, polish I think, got a letter from the gubment on it,threatening fines for having it out front. May be worth a call to check on that.

It is because....According to Health Canada, it "may pose a risk to aquatic organisms, bees, beneficial insects and birds." Its not just Sawyers, its any manufacturer as the aerosol cloth treatment sprays themselves are not approved in Canada.

Im heading for an overseas hunt right away and permethrin treated clothing was recommended, and I really went down the rabbit hole looking into it and the rationale behind Canada's ban on the aerosol sprays for clothing treatment. Its essentially BS. Anyway, the only licensed manufacturer of permethrin treated clothing in Canada is Marks Work Warehouse 's Wind River Tick and Mosquito Repellant Clothing. I actually went as far to correspond with Marks several times and was informed it took them several years to get approval to manufacture and sell the clothing. I bought a set for me and my kid after speaking to several people who had been using it with positive results.....what I can say is undoubtedly there are far fewer mosquitos, and seemingly way less ticks than I have had on us before. Now whether that is a function of the extra dry year or not, who knows. But so far so good I guess.

If you want to self treat, as others have said you can get it from livestock supply stores, dilute and treat. I have also done that with another set of clothing, and have had about the same results as the stuff from Marks. Difference being the effective period, seems the self treated stuff wears off after a handful of washes, but still better than bugspray by a long shot