Gone All Summer, The Maine Woods Will Soon Be Alive With Ticks

We had such a great summer without them.

For real... In the spring, I pulled a few dozen ticks of all shapes and sizes, off my dog, every day. Then somewhere around the end of June, it was like someone flicked a switch. They were just gone. I let my dog rumble through some of the grassiest, leafiest, brushiest spots I could find. Nothing. Not one tick.

I even wrote an article about it. There were even national articles about whether or not ticks had been "weaponized" by the government. It was fascinating. Now to be fair, I only half-heartedly paid attention to ticks before I got a dog, but then they pretty much became my life for a few months when all the snow melted. I enjoyed the break.

They're baaaaaaack....

Deep down, I knew it couldn't last. On the wildlife pages I follow on Facebook and Instagram, I've already seen people posting a few photos here and there. And according to the BDN, it's that time of year when they start poking their crappy little heads back out. As we enter fall, we're also entering the breeding season for ticks.

It's tick pulling time again...

So for the next several weeks until snow falls, we will see their return. Their plan is to lay a bunch of eggs to hatch lots of new baby ticks, find a host, and then die. But in huge numbers. It will likely feel like spring all over again. So it might be time to invest in some tick removal spoons. They do a wicked bang-up job pulling those stupid things.

You can buy them on Amazon, but the state will even give you free ones. Check out this link if you want some for yourself. Otherwise, you run the risk of leaving the tick embedded, and that's the fast track to Lyme Disease.

At any rate, I've personally enjoyed the little respite from these 8-legged jerks. I'm not looking forward to having to check the dog, check myself, check all the spots he likes to hang out... like my bed... and go back into tick hypervigilance. Again, it was great while it lasted, but it's time to go back to war with nature.