We all know about them but those pesky ticks are back. We were hiking in Okanagan Mountain Park today and were lucky to find only 1 tick. Last week a friend checked his dog after hiking in the Southern Slopes and found about 20 of them on it.
Ticks are a parasite. Ticks await on grass or bushes and attach to you when you brush against the grass or bush as you are hiking. (they do not fall on you from above) They detect your approach through your emissions of carbon dioxide, heat and motion and will be prepared to move as you brush by.
If you spray Deet on your clothes it will help keep them off but the trade off is that some of your clothes may get damaged and Deet just does not go well with us humans.
The ticks like to travel upward to your “hotspots” so it helps to just watch for them and pick them off if you see any. It also helps to tuck your pants into your socks so the ticks will not crawl up inside your pants. Some folks say this is just not fashionable though. 🙂
Brad Paisley’s advice on Checking for Ticks
Hiking safety for ticks:
First of all, don’t worry, it takes up to 24 hours for a tick to get deeply embedded into your scalp or skin. So after you hike just have a shower, complete a self check and feel your skalp thoroughly for any ticks.
If you find an embedded tick, place a drinking straw over the tick, tie a loop into a thread, place the loop over the straw and slide it down to your skin at the bottom of the straw and, gently tighten the loop, remove the straw and slide the tick out. Bag the tick and have it tested for any lime disease etc.
Easy Tick Removal – check out Tick Twister
Easy Tick Removal
Don’t worry and enjoy your hike!