# Western UP bird & tick report?



## Old Whaler (Sep 11, 2010)

Will be doing some grouse hunting in Ontonagon County soon. 
What's the word on flushes? Are the leaves hanging around late again, or has the low rainfall affected that?
Anyone know how bad the ticks are this year?
I always hose down my pants and hikers with permethrin anyway.
Thanks much


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## TheHighLIfe (Sep 5, 2017)

I returned from the up last week 
Did not hunt west of gwinn
Some birds, about the same as last year 

Ticks, however, are the largest form of life
Hearing that it would be bad, i used permithrin for the first time on all my clothes, and soaked my son's dog's collar
And gave her her topical

The result?
More ticks on her than the prior 8 years combined. And i was inspecting her after the hunt, and my friend was pulling ticks from his puppy and my dog every 100-200 yards
She lost the ability to even move her left leg. While she returned to normal the next morning, we pulled 5 ticks feeding on her, so i still took her to the vet, who said topicals are not good alone, also needs 1) to get tick vaccine (son's girlfriend took the dog for shots, Mentioned it was a hunting dog, but that vet didn't vaccinate her) 2) monthly tick pills, and 3) soresta collar. So now we will do all 4
Suggest you go well prepared

On top of that, altho i permithrined clothes from socks to hat, i woke up scratching my belly, Went in the bathroom to find a live tick eating on me, and another starting to dig into my thigh

I guess i will chew her extra pills and wear an xl collar next year! Haha

Godd luck, and i mean that in every sense of the word 



Sent from my SM-G950U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

I just got back from a four week trip to the U.P. where I bird hunted most days. I hunted in Alger, Schoolcraft, Delta, Marquette, Dickinson, Menominee and Iron counties. I never got one tick on me and did not use any prevention at all. My dog is on a monthly tick medication and he also did not pick up any ticks. I have only run into ticks once in the U.P. during the fall and that was in one spot in Menominee County a few years ago. As for grouse numbers, overall they were the worst I've seen in the decades I've been hunting there. My flush rate was under one per hour.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

I did a 9 day trip started in the keweenaw and ended up in paradise. Dog picked up 2 ticks in hazel swamp gem at the west wnd of the UP and one tick on the east side in paradise. This was late oct after the first snow.


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