Oh, yes.....we took a walk in a nearby park. I live in SE WI. Between the 4 of us, we quickly found 20 ticks on us upon returning home. We've had a couple just from being out in the yard too. I don't think we saw one last year. So, I'd say yes.

Yes, they're thick! And early, too. I'm surprised because it's been so dry. The rain we just got will make the situation even worse. Wish they made Frontline for people~~

I find the Avon Expedition spray works great for ticks and mosquitoes--and it contains no DEET. The black flies are really bad this spring, too.

Us too! And those teeny, tiny little flying ants have been merciless. I'm bumpy and bloody and ITCHY!!!

Char

First ticks I've seen since I moved to WI in '89. Pulled one off my pant leg on the way to work this morning & launched it out the car window. My mosquito magnet is shot. I hope this isn't a big mosquito year but there were plenty of those before this cold front moved in. Every year, different bugs. This is a June bug year also so this summer will be prime time to deal with grubs in the lawn.

Haven't seen any ticks this year, but last year was a bad deer tick for us.

Ticks suck ;-)

I live in Oak Creek where there are a lot of homes. I've never seen any here or in Cudahy where I used to live. I hate ticks. Mosquitos are irritating, but the thought of having something stick their head in your skin and suck your blood is GROSS!! Twice I've had wood ticks and I put hydrogen peroxide on them and they came out fast. My hubby has had deer ticks on him twice. Both times he went to the doc to have them taken off. They are tough little buggers and hate to come off.

Kat

Im also in Oak Creek. Ive found ticks this year quite early. Fortunately I havent been bitten, nor found any on my dogs.

Dave

I am in Raymond, which is directly SW of Oak Creek. I grew up here, and moved back 4 years ago. I had never had a tick get on me previously in all my years here, although I had encounters with a few in IL. This year I have knocked TWO off me already. What the #*#&? Here I have always been telling people we don't have them here. And I played outside all the time in my childhood and ran through meadows and woods and hid in fields and so on.

Marcia

Dave, do you have open fields by you? We just have mowed lawns where I live...no creeks either.
Marcia, my family has an old farm in Princeton Wi. and we didn't have any ticks there until the early 80s. I used to run thru the fields and walk in the woods too and never had a problem until the 80s. So now I stay on the mowed paths and always check myself when I go there. I remember when I got both ticks I was at the farm. Both times I thought at first they were moles that I hadn't noticed before. LOL!!
My hubby worries about Lyme disease from the deer ticks. He stopped hunting after getting the 2nd deer tick.

Kat

So what would make ticks move into an area like that? We had none for so many decades and now they are evidently common. It was in the 80s that I stopped hanging around here so much, was off in college and then moved to IL for a long time. Have now returned to my mother cheeseland, thank goodness.

So Kat and Dave, since you are both in Oak Creek, why don't we have our own little garden visits or plant swaps or something? I live near the 7 Mile Fair, so very close to Oak Creek. I could show off my large, messy, but still lovely yard including my enormous lasagna raised bed I am making. Lots of melons and tomatoes coming up before I am even done making the darn thing.

Marcia

Marcia, the ticks get around by travling on animals, birds and us. LOL! They get good spots to live and they start multipling.
Can you believe I have only been to the 7 Mile Fair once!? That was last Labor Day weekend. I had a great time. You're pretty close to Wayne's Daughters greenhouses, aren't you? I used to go there, but now I go to the one on hwy 32 in Racine, around 5 Mile Rd.
A couple of my gardens are still in construction. I've got a lot of fixing up to do this year. I just bought 2 more heucheras and 4 hostas that I have to figure out where I'm going to put them. I have ideas, but I'm not positive yet. As for garden visits/plant swaps, I'd like to hold off until mid or late August so I can straigten out my gardens where they look presentable. :) I have 3 lasagna gardens myself. I really love them. It's a lot of work, but it's so much easier doing these than trying to dig up my clay soil. I also put 1 of them where a lot of underground wires are and I couldn't dig deep. They are the way to go!

Kat

"A couple of my gardens are still in construction"....

I thought this was a normal condition of gardens! Husband tells me he knows what perennials are...those are the ones you keep moving.

I live in NW WI and it wouldn't be spring without the ticks! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't miss them a bit if they disappeared, but they are a fact of life up here.

Last year I got the dreaded Lyme's disease, but I caught it fairly quickly and got treatment. Never did see the little bugger that gave it to me!

These ticks aren't just in the grass or in the bushes, they are walking around in my garden soil and I have a few on me every time I plant something. Three times now I killed one that was sitting on the garden gate latch. The latch is white plastic, why they are drawn to that I don't know.

Bob, a june bug year? Why do you say that? Does that mean also a Japanese Beetle year?

You guys need to read the book: "The $64 tomato"
I'm almost done with it and I've been laughing the whole time. Fits me to a tee.

Hey Marcia, the new fence is working! No more missing plants!! On to the next problem, such as bugs (ticks, Jap Btls, slugs, etc.)

"There's one way to tell a plant from a weed. Pull everthing that grows, and if it grows back it's a weed"
(a line from the book)

Im in west central WI and have pulled 2 ticks so far this year. One off my dog (and YES we use Frontline!) and one off my daughter. My son, husband and father have all had lymes disease in the past. I wish there was a way to eliminate the gross little buggers!

June Bugs live a 3 year life cycle. Most of their lives are spent as grubs eating grass roots. The grubs are easiest to control (kill) shortly after they hatch so if you have grubs in the lawn, this August would be the time to go after them. Jap beetles have an annual life cycle, the above does not apply to them.

My wife and I went hiking in Bong (SE WI) and we have never seen so many wood ticks. We both has several on our clothes and hiking boots. (No bites though). We live in Paddock Lake and have not seen any in our yard (Yet).
It's really a good year for the little beasts. ;)

Lyme's disease comes from the deer (sometimes called bear) tick, not the dog tick. Deer ticks are tiny, which is probably why most folks don't realize they were bitten. They are dark reddish-brown, and don't have the white markings the larger ticks have. Damminix kills them; unfortunately can't buy in WI this year...

I think your best defense is a tick repellant lotion/spray, cover up, and stay out of the woods--bummer, right? But that's what we do, and so far so good.

Just MHO.

Constance.

As the deer herd expands and increases in size there will be an increase in the number and spread of ticks everywhere in the state, not to mention more deer-car accidents and eating up of precious trees and flowers! Like somebody already mentioned: It's not the wood ticks you have to watch out for, but the smaller deer tick that embeds itself deep in your flesh and more often carries Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, and other diseases. They are very small and hard to detect while wood ticks are large and merely annoying.

In 2005 Wisconsin was #6 in the number of cases reported of Lyme's disease. Here's a link at the bottom that shows how we compare with other states. I know dogs have been reported as getting it, but I don't know about other pets. If you have a pet, it's good to know about the symptoms.

Kat

Here is a link that might be useful: Lyme's Disease

Constance/elvis, are you making up that name, Damminix? Sounds so much like damnit. :-) I think I would rather be bitten by ticks than cover my body with some kind of poisonous substance every day?!? I don't use mosquito repellent because it is repellent to me, I imagine that tick repellent is just as bad if not worse. I live surrounded by lots of trees, so staying 'out of the woods' is not practical. I have just become paranoid when I feel anything touching me outside, and of course most of the time it is just a tall piece of grass. The ticks I have seen were small reddish-brown without any visitble white markings, so that means they are the evil kind?

Marcia

No Marcia, didn't make up the name--even spelled it right, LOL. Do a Google search and you will see. You don't put it on you; it's a bait you put out.

Con

As far as I'm concerned, wood ticks are just an annoyance. They're ugly and give one the creeps, by their blood sucking habit.
Deer ticks are dangerous. My son and husband got over the lymes with long term antibiotic treatment, but my Dads heart was damaged and he died at age 64 of a heart attack.

The ticks have beed real bad this yr here to.Already pulled 3 off my cat,, tick looked like it had a pancake covering aorund it, and when squeezed,, no blood? Tough as nails to.Can't even walk on lawn without doing a check on self before entering house again and they hide to,,, hate it when you wake up only to find a tick in bed with you. Hope next yr is better cause this yr is jsut awful.

Ilite, where do you live in Michigan? I've been in the U.P. and it's beautiful up there. So many wooded areas...and great for ticks! I would hate to find one in the bed.

Kat