wood tick
Nature is our home. Most hikers cling fervently to that truth. But when we suddenly find ourselves home to nature—as did an acquaintance who napped in a meadow and later discovered 17 ticks clinging to his skin—we’re alarmed and revolted.
If there’s a benefit to ticks, perhaps it’s their ability to remind us there really is no line—much as we often imagine—separating us from nature. Still, it’s understandable that we prefer to separate ourselves from ticks. Here’s how to do that.
Ticks are vile, insidious creatures, but slow and easily thwarted if you’re vigilant. In the Canadian Rockies, they’re active from April through mid-June.
Look at your pinky fingernail. Wood ticks are generally smaller than that. They have dark, reddish-brown bodies with eight legs. Their protruding mouths have barbs too small to see. Ticks are arachnids but lack the speed and seeming intelligence of spiders. They climb onto grass and shrubs. When an animal or a hiker brushes past, the tick slides off the vegetation and clings to its victim. It spends three or more hours crawling upward, searching for moist flesh. Upon choosing a drilling site, it secretes a kind of glue, then bites—painlessly, unnoticed—and begins sucking blood. It drops off when gorged.
A tick bite can cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, or tick paralysis. All are present but rare in B.C. and Alberta. So, contracting a tick-borne illness in the Canadian Rockies is possible.
Spotted fever is potentially fatal. Symptoms include fever, headache, chills, muscular pain, coughing, and a spreading rash. The primary symptom of Lyme disease is bull’s-eye skin lesions—circular red patches about two inches in diameter, with a clear centre. The lesions can appear anywhere, not necessarily near the tick bite. Symptoms of tick paralysis are numbness, drowsiness and loss of coordination, all of which can disappear soon after the tick is removed. If you suspect any of these maladies, see a doctor fast. With early detection, antibiotics are highly effective. But not all ticks carry disease. Even the carriers don’t transmit disease immediately upon biting; it takes hours.
Learn to recognize tick habitat. They thrive on sunny, grassy slopes below 2000 m (6560 ft), especially those frequented by large mammals such as deer, elk or bighorn sheep. To sprawl or even sit in ticky terrain is to offer yourself for dinner. Inspect your clothing and your body occasionally while hiking. Do it again thoroughly at day’s end. Ticks will favour your groin, armpits, neck and scalp but can bite almost anywhere. Ask a companion to check your head and back. If you’re hiking with a dog, inspect it as well. Dogs can transfer ticks to people and into your vehicle or home.
Finding and removing ticks before they bite is easy. If you discover one burrowed into your skin, the sooner you detach it, the safer you are. Let a doctor do this. If you attempt it yourself, forget about suffocating the tick with Vaseline, or burning its butt with a match. You’ll only make the tick regurgitate and defecate, increasing the likelihood of disease transmission. Don’t use normal tweezers; they’re too big and might crush the tick, spurting its gut contents into your wound. And don’t use your fingers, or you might contaminate whatever else you touch. If you do touch it, wash your hands afterward.
You want to remove the entire tick—mouth and all. Use fine-pointed sliver grippers, or a specialized tick-removal tool. Gently hold the tick by its mouth without grabbing or squeezing the body. Lightly, steadily, pull it directly back until your skin “tents.” Hold it there, perhaps several seconds, until the tick lets go. If its mouth breaks off and remains attached, pull it out like a splinter. Drop the tick into an empty film canister along with a damp scrap of paper to keep it hydrated, in case your doctor wants a laboratory analysis. Clean your tick removal tool. Wash your wound with soap and water, rub it with an antiseptic wipe, then bandage it. Record the date and time you were bitten. Monitor yourself for signs of disease.
I had gone with my brother to visit the snake pits here in Manitoba a couple weeks ago, and upon arriving back at the car park after a few hours I overheard someone yelling “you didn’t tell me there were ticks out already”. This led to a prompt ok bro, check my back for ticks. Thankfully I didn’t have any on me.
But the other day after getting home I noticed that unmistakable feeling of something crawling up my leg, Arghhh, I betcha that’s a tick. Sure enough, after lifting my pant leg, I noticed the little creature, he tried to cling on to my hand after I plucked him from my leg, but to no avail, he got flushed. Thankfully he hadn’t started feeding yet.
Posted by Dave on May 9th, 2012.
Hi Dave… Thanks for stopping by. Interesting that it was the ticks, not the snakes, that were the problem. — Craig
Posted by hikingcamping on May 9th, 2012.
Good reminders and great information.
Posted a quote today I though you both would enjoy hearing about.
An old favorite.
D
Posted by DSD on May 11th, 2012.
You’re right, D. That’s a classic. Kath introduced me to Alan Watts within a few month of when we first met. –C
Posted by hikingcamping on May 11th, 2012.
As regular hikers and nature walkers, with and without our dogs, we often have experiences with ticks. Fortunately, we have discovered a simple and effective way to remove ticks from both ourselves and our dogs. As mentioned in your post, ticks should not be handled bare-handed unnecessarily, so we recommend wearing a latex or similar glove which can easily be carried in a first aid kit. To remove the tick, gently place a finger ontop of the attached tick and SLOWLY move the finger in a clockwise circle. Within ten circlular motions the tick will detach itself completely and attempt to crawl away. They really do not like this maneuver and this has worked for us every time.
Posted by Eric and Kim on May 13th, 2012.