Submitted by Kevin Emms on 11/26/99. ( kevinemms@hotmail.com ) 207.58.20.38
I was wondering if there was away to treat the deer hides before skinning them out. I have been finding numerous deer ticks crawling on the hides and on me! I have even been bitten by a deer tick...luckily i did not get lymes disease. Please tell me if there is a pretreatment that will kill the ticks befor skinning the deer out!
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This response submitted by Scott on 11/26/99. ( ScottsTaxidermy@webtv.net ) 209.240.200.12
Kevin
My solution is to have an extra freezer in the shop that I can put deer in and freeze for 5 days or so that seems to work fine
I hate the little critters so much that i went out and got this freezer to use just for this.
This was covered on the forum last week or so ago you can find out some other suggestions there also
Scott
This response submitted by Pacemakr on 11/27/99. ( jfwagner@hereintown.net ) 209.240.200.152
I worked on a deer I received Tuesday. It was the whole hide to the tail, and head and antlers included. It was brought to me frozen and took up too much space, so I fleshed it today, 4 days later. There were live ticks crawling on it when it thawed out. They were moving slowly, as was I, but this makes me wonder what it takes to rid them.
This response submitted by John C on 11/27/99. ( ) 204.180.103.12
It just seems to me with LYME, RABIES, RABBIT FEVER, BLACK PLAGUE and several other potentially deadly viruses that people would learn to charge for their work. ONE illnes with eat up any income that you have made from taxidermy really quickly. JC
This response submitted by Terri on 11/27/99. ( tandr@ushwy1.com ) 209.3.62.172
I never thought of it that way John.....GOOD POINT !!
This response submitted by George Roof on 11/27/99. ( georoof@aol.com ) 152.163.188.227
If you live in a cold climate, you can take advantage of the ticks . Hang the unfleshed hide over night over a bucket full of water. Ticks migrate toward the ground and will fall off by the thousands.
I'm not so fortunate. I live in a warmer climate, so I spread a heavy vinyl tarp on my floor. I spray the entire surrounding edge with permethrin that can be bought from any good outdoors supply company. When I get a batch of extremely intense tick infested hides, I dip them as soon as I've caped the antlers out. I use chemicals I get from a veterinary supply house. Simply submerse the cape in a bucket of the mix and hang it over the buck until it drips dry. Ticks that don't scamper off and into the bucket will be slowed considerable and the freezer will finish them off.
With less infested hide, I spray a tick killer designed for dog houses on the hair of the deer. But I still took my Lyme shots.
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