All of you (people, not dogs) who hunt on the "right coast" area should also have a blood test for Lyme Disease when you have your annual physical. It can even be contracted from the tick's nymph phase, which are almost too small to see and don't leave much of a mark or irritation.
Lyme disease is a rather suble and potentially catastrophic illness and increasingly common in our area. Oddly enough, I know several people who have contracted it, but no hunters. Go figure. The test is a straightforward part of the regular "bloodwork" most of us old farts have each year. If you're young enough not to have it regularly, I'd recommend you talk to your MD about it, especially if you have been bitten recently. If he prescribes the test, your insurance will pay for it.
I'm OK with most of God's creatures. I walk around snakes; don't even waste ammo on 'em any more. But TICKS BUG ME. They've been around since the dinosaurs, they can live forever on nothing, waiting to bite someone, and they carry some extremely nasty diseases, especially in other parts of the world. All of the warm, fuzzy characteristics of a leach combined with a spider...I live with 'em but they give me the creeps.
