Ticks do seem to be bad this year especially this fall. 13 years ago I was diagnosed with lyme, after four months of trying to find out what was wrong with me. I must have been to 5 different specialists and other doctors. Not one of them suggested Lyme disease. One doctor even told me that it was mental and I needed to see a neurologist. I was treated for a year with antibiotics including intravenous antibiotics. Plus a few more times over the 13 years. I have not gotten completely rid of it but have learned to control it with diet (no sugar) and exercise. I still do get symptoms, but not near as severe.
I never remembered seeing a bulls eye rash, nor remember seeing a tick attached, but they can get to places where you won't see them. If you have an attached tick, especially a deer tick I would suggest sending the tick to a lab that can test it for the lyme bacteria. If you suspect you may have lyme disease get to a lyme literate doctor. There are many doctors that don't have a clue how to treat it. I found out by talking to my family doctor, that I know more about lyme disease then he does, and he is considered a good doctor.
If lyme is treated early in its infection it is easy to get rid of. If you see the tick and a bulls eye rash appears, I would get to a doctor that would administer at least a month of antibiotics. There have been cases where a two week dose of antibiotics were given at the early stage, and the patient felt fine for a while. Then the symptoms returned later, only much worse. If not treated until in its second or third stage, it can be really hard to get rid of. It is hard to diagnose. It is more of a clinical diagnosis then by testing. The testing for lyme is not always conclusive. It can give false positives and false negatives.
Not all ticks transmit the lyme bacteria. Mainly the black legged tick (deer tick) and the western black legged tick. The lone star tick and common dog tick are not known to transmit the lyme bacteria, but can carry other diseases.
The best way to ensure you won't get lyme disease is to not get bit by a deer tick. When hunting, I now duct tape my pant legs to my boots and spray my clothing with Repel Permanone. Permanone is a Permethrin based spray that is to be used on clothing only. It does not repel ticks it kills them, and the stuff works. It will last on clothing for a couple weeks.
I also sit on the ground as little as possible. Its the reason I don't do much spring gobbler hunting anymore. When the deer ticks hatch out and are in the nymph stage around May. They can be carrying the lyme bacteria, and are as small as a pin head. So just imagine trying to find one of them dug into your crotch or else where. When a tick attaches to you it secretes a numbing saliva so its bite will go undetected.
Where I live deer ticks are not that numerous, but where I bear hunt up north they are very numerous, and I would not be hunting without duct tape and permanone. No matter what you have heard about lyme disease, trust me you do not want it.
If you have to remove a tick there are very small tweezers made for that purpose. What ever you do, do not squeeze its body when removing it. This could transmit the bacteria into you, that the tick is carrying in its gut.
In an answer to hornady's post about a vaccine for humans. The FDA did approve of a lyme vaccine in 1998. It was pulled from the market and discontinued by the manufacture in 2002 because of poor sales. There was wide spread fear that it could cause arthritis and other problems. There were other issues with it that I had read about, but can't remember what they were now. So basically it didn't work or it caused other complications. If it did work I'm sure it would have continued to be developed and sold. If not by the original manufacturer, then by someone else.
