Moose & Ticks

[paleoman]

#4247

Back from a trip to northern New England. Having been away so long I was surprised at how badly affected the regional moose population is infested with ticks. The individual animals suffer horrible visual and biological impact. Warmer recent winters seem to be the trigger. Curious if anyone has seen the same in other areas of moose range?

[Stephen Graf]

#29028

I killed one in Quebec back in ’06. I didn’t notice it right away, but after a day of hanging, the ticks were crawling off him in sheets. Lots of different species too. Nasty.

I understand that biologists are thinking that the parasite load from ticks is the limiting factor in the moose’s southern range limits.

[Doc Nock]

#29032

Don’t know jack about moose.

But on another trad site, someone started a thread on the increase in ticks, reviewing how in their home area, they didn’t KNOW a tick growing up. Big response from all areas of the country sharing the same experience: ticks seem to be a recent phenomena.

Of course, the speculation ran from sublime to ridiculous, including global warming, etc. Man hasn’t populated this earth and kept written records very long at all…so we don’t know much about the long-term weather cycles of this blue marble.

[sinawalli]

#29225

Many, many years years ago I was out for a walk on my friends section of land, (winter), and I came across a young bull just laying there. He had so many ticks that his hide seemed to be moving! It was gross! He was unable to move, and died shortly after.

[James Harvey]

#29440

Doc Nock wrote: the speculation ran from sublime to ridiculous, including global warming, etc.

I would have thought something like increasing temperatures for a given area would be a rather reasonable explanation for animals extending their population range?

[paleoman]

#29453

ausjim wrote: [quote=Doc Nock]the speculation ran from sublime to ridiculous, including global warming, etc.

I would have thought something like increasing temperatures for a given area would be a rather reasonable explanation for animals extending their population range?

I never in my life growing up in the NE saw a tick and I pretty much lived in the woods. Tragedy is how much CO2 I dumped knowingly, getting there, that in my opinion aggravates the whole mess we’re in.

opinion is

[Ralph]

#29490

When I was a lad we lived in southern Idaho for three years (three of the most enjoyable in my life, I miss it still). We used to get into ticks all the time out in the sagebrush flats chasing rabbits and such. I hate the dang things. I find one on me I feel hundreds for hours. Yuck! Poor animals can do nothing.

[James Harvey]

#29545

Ralph, we get paralysis ticks here on the east coast. Their paralysing agent can kill small dogs, cats, babies etc but on an adult they just make you go numb. When I was in school I used to walk through half a kilometre or so of scrub to get to the bus stop in morning and would fairly regularly pull ticks at school, particularly in the summer. Every now and then I’d get a tick off and it’d still be alive, so I’d drop it on an unsuspecting friend. Ahh, the innocence of an infectious disease spreading youth 😆

[Etter1]

#29579

There’s something that ticks give you that most people do not know about.

Severe Allergy to Mammalian Meat!!!!

I contracted it when I was 21. It is caused by one of two things, either a massive dose of chigger bites or the bite of a single lone star tick.

The lone star tick and chiggers have a saliva that is very similar to a carbohydrate in mammalian meat (alpha gal).

Actually not all mammals. It is found in all mammals except humans and old world primates (our closest ancestors).

I tried and tried for years to eat different meats cooked different ways but I go into severe anaphalaxysis if I eat it.

I’ve since learned that if I can go without an allergic reaction or a tick bite for a few years that it will go away. I’m excited to get my blood tested soon as I’m going on two years.

All the deer, pigs, rabbits, etc that I’ve killed in the last few years has gone to feed my friends and family. It takes a big part away from hunting that I hope I can gain back.

If you’ve never heard of this, google alpha gal allergy. It’s becoming extremely common.

[grumpy]

#29587

Grew up in Northern VT/NY. Ticks and opossims were something we read about that were far, far away. Moose, turkeys, and coyoties were extinct. Bears were rare. In the ’90s I was in my old neighborhood and saw this big bunch of brown things in a pasture, couldn’t figure out what they were. They were turkeys. In the late ’90s I was hiking in the Green Mts, and came across “cow tracks” on a mountain. Couldn’t figure what cows were doing up there…then I saw the moose. Also saw the mama bear and cubs on that hike. Arwen picked up her first tick when she was 3, and now there is a opossim that regularly checks out our back porch for trash. We often hear the coyotes while sitting around the campfire in the back yard. And they are telling us that feral hogs are on the way. While I’m thinking about it, I don’t remember all these canada geese either. Now the are filling up the ponds and lakes with poop.

We constantly hear about species going extinct, but seldom hear about all of the species that are expanding their range. Extinction is nothing new, neither is a species expending its range.

Kinda nice having the Moose, Bears, Coyoties, Geese back, gives us something to hunt, but I could do without the ticks an opossims.

[Ralph]

#29633

Jim, there’s all kinds of nasty’s down there uh! I have the highest regards for the people in Australia though. Gotta be tough to put up with the nasty’s. You ever “tick” anyone off with your youthful pass the tick game? 😀

Hey grumps, good to have things around but good luck with the pigs.

[Ptaylor]

#29758

Yep, Grumpy stated it pretty well like it went. I’m not quite as old, unless you picture is out of focus:shock:, but I grew up in New England and used to have to wear a parka over my halloween suit cause it would snow. Now they’re lucky if it snows before the end of the year. Three reasons people think the ticks have been able to grow to such a high population are: 1) warmer winters not killing them off; 2) no more fires burning the leaf litter where they hide; 3) a lot more host, mainly small mammals (mice, voles, rabbits) due to the increase in “edge habitats”. I really enjoy not having to worry about them much anymore.

As for the moose, I’ve heard about ticks affecting their ability to survive because they rub their hair off in the winter. But I’m not totally sure about the whole interaction. Might by worth some investigation on google scholar, see what’s been published.

[Etter1]

#30100

BTW- didn’t mean to say ancestors. Should’ve said relatives.

[James Harvey]

#30597

Etter, that is out of control man. I hope your allergy goes away.

[grumpy]

#30782

OMG Etter I have alergies, not the same as you, just makes it hard to breath. Praying for you. Alergies are constantly changing, what you are alergic to today could be different tomorrow. So if you are still alergic when tested plan on another test in 6 mos or a year. That 2 year thing is just a guideline.

BTW. That pic of Arwen in the black hat, where she was brushing the snow off the gnomes…That was Holloween. We had 30″ of snow here in Mass. Closed everything down for over a week, and since the trees still had leaves, stripped off a LOT of branches. Didn’t have another major storm all that winter.

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