Woodsmen, butchers say Maine moose, deer crawling with ticks

[jpak]

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/12/02/outdoors/woodsmen-butchers-say-maine-moose-deer-crawling-with-ticks/

WEST PARIS — Moose and deer tick infestations this year are among the worst that woodsmen and big-game meat processors have seen.

They’re blaming the population boom on unseasonably warm weather and the lack of prolonged deep freezes during winter.

Shed antler hunters such as Jerrold Mason of West Paris and Eric Hall of Jackman noticed the problem this past spring when they found more than 60 dead moose from the Upper Androscoggin River Valley to the Jackman region.

“These are definitely not winter kill,” Mason said recently. “Of the typical winter kill animals like moose, it gets sick, it stands in a small area and basically you find 400 moose droppings and a dead moose in the middle of it.”

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I never saw a tick in Maine until 2001 - now the place is crawling with them.

Of course, back in the day we regularly had -20 to -30 below winter temps.

yup

[phantom power]

1. public health time bomb

:(

[hatrack]

2. Good thing there's no potential for Lyme Disease up th . . .

Oh, sorry, never mind.