Maine’s Seasonal Nuisance: Ticks are Back for Fall Misery

I've actually tried to research the usefulness of ticks.

While you and I might argue that they're completely useless, there are a ton of animals where ticks provide a natural source of protein. Especially after they're gorged. At that point, for some animals, they're like nature's little blood-filled raisins. Yes, that's gross AF, but so are ticks, in general.

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At certain points of the year, it's like a tick picking festival for me and my dog. He loves to off-trail when we walk in the woods, and all this summer it hasn't been an issue. Often, in the heat and dryness of summer, ticks will kind of go off grid for a spell. Not everywhere, but in most places.

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That little lull is over.

For the last few days, especially since the temps took a bit of a nose dive after that little heat wave we had, I've noticed a few ticks on my dog. Even worse, they're the little small ones that are super hard to see. But it means that we're going to be having regular tick checks again whenever we come in from a walk.

Fast forward to a few weeks from now, and it will be full-scale war with ticks. My preferred method of killing them, is to drown them in 91% rubbing alcohol. If one of them made me particularly angry for some reason, I'll even set the alcohol on fire, just to add a little dramatic flair.

The lull is even kind of a lie.

While ticks do kind of go away in summer, they also will subside when there's snow on the ground. But here in Maine, we often have thaws during the winter, and when we do, the ticks are just waiting to come out. I was picking them off my dog last January during one of the little thaws. It was crazy.

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I totally get that they don't always completely go away for everybody, but it's easy to forget about them during the summer and winter. But then they're always there, just waiting in the shadows to come and bite us. So as fall rolls in, get ready to go back to the tick check routine. It's game on.