Ticks, ticks, and more ticks

[Jim62]

Any of my fellow rural folks experiencing a nightmare season of ticks? We have been living here in the Ozarks of southern Missouri for 12 years now and this is without a doubt the worst year of ticks in that time. I cannot go outside without getting a tick on me this year. It doesn't help that my wife says I'm a real tick magnet and that's true, but this year is the worst. Thursday I stopped counting after 10 and that was just from stepping out in the yard with the dog, not walking through the woods. They are everywhere man it's an invasion of mammoth proportion. I'm thinking I should write a 50's sci-fi spoof movie, Invasion of the Ticks, or maybe Ticks From Outer Space. This is just unreal.

 

[BarleyBop]

Hmmm, that is annoying. They have been getting worse here too, and in the last 20 years, with warming trends, Lyme disease has made its appearance as well. Many insects have cyclical population patterns, as well as being affected by the weather.
Having lived with them so long, you probably know all this stuff, but I'll go through it for others who may not.
They used to be controlled here by deep cold in the winter, but we can no longer depend on that.
I do know that deer ticks are carried by deer and birds, so those populations also have an effect.
Long grass and undergrowth are favorite launching pads for them to jump onto passing victims.
To think that as a kids, we would spend most of the summer in the fields behind our house, often crawling on our hands and knees through the tall grass! Never picked up a tick. Not once.