It’s deer tick season in Maine

It’s deer tick season in Maine

I just received an alert from the Maine Medical Center Research Institute (MMCRI) that this time of year is the peak for adult deer ticks. Most alarming, we’re told that, “half or more ticks maybe infected with the Lyme bacterium – as well as other disease pathogens.” MMCRI reports that as many as 13,000 people contracted Lyme disease in Maine last year.

“The great outdoors is what Maine is all about. Just remember to always do your tick check,” said Dr. Peter Rand, senior investigator at the MMCRI Vector-borne Disease Lab.

DSCN9486MMCRI says that this time of year, with dog ticks in hibernation, any tick found in Maine will almost certainly be a deer tick. Feeding ticks should be removed immediately. I recommend the tick-off spoons sold by the Small Woodlot Owners Association of Maine. The spoon has a gap in which you slide the visible part of the tick and then simply lift it out. You can purchase these spoons by calling the SWOAM office, 207-626-0005. You can also order them online at SWOAM’s website, www.swoam.org, in their online store. You get four for $12.

Advice about deer ticks specific to Maine and Mainers can be found on the MMCRI “Tick Lab” website atwww.ticksinmaine.com launched last summer, based on the lab’s 26 years of research on ticks, their hosts, habitats and disease transmission. Information is also available on the University of Maine Cooperative Extension at extension.umaine.edu/ipm/tickid/.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.