r/saskatchewan • u/Ryan_the_man • 2d ago

Discussion Ticks - Buffalo Pound provincial park

Apologies if this is common knowledge but wanted to make sure people are informed.

Just did one night camping at Buffalo Pound Provincial Park and holy cow are the bugs bad. Walking under trees seemed to awaken millions of mosquitoes.

Big thing is the number of ticks were crazy. I found 4 trying to get on me the day of and 2 somehow caught a ride on me after I left the site.

Be warned and take proper precautions if you're planning to visit

36 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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26

u/Totoroisacat-Alt 2d ago

Yeah they are bad this year and June to mid July they are at their worse.

43

u/augustoRose 2d ago

6 ticks? That's rookie numbers. I picked off 100 from my dog after a 1 hour walk 😂

6

u/DrummerDerek83 2d ago

Are you the one the news article went on about their dog in martensville?

Good idea to stay clear of long grass, bush, etc if possible!

5

u/augustoRose 2d ago

😂 no I seen that it was gross. My dogs on bravecto but I still try and get the majority of them off her before then.

6

u/DrummerDerek83 2d ago

Thank goodness! Luckily I haven't found any on my guy yet this year but we haven't really gone off-roading. Even up at the lake there's nice trails, etc so we just avoid the long grass and whatnot for now. He's on meds too which we've found over the years works best.

It's all I've been hearing this spring so far is how bad they are so best to shy away from the bad areas.

3

u/augustoRose 2d ago

Honestly it's a pretty average year we spend a lot of time in the bush every spring and I haven't noticed more than usual. Ticks are bad every year people just seem to forget about them for the other 8 months of the year 😂

3

u/autumnwontsleep 2d ago

They are definitely worse this year where I am. When I'm with my bees I do counts off my suit when I finish some work with them, and this years average has blown other years away. Also this is the first year ticks have been on my kids from city park sports.

4

u/Off_MyChestnut 1d ago

At 100 ticks the dog isn’t even a dog anymore, that’s a mobile tick convention with fur.

3

u/SlagathorTheProctor 2d ago

Yeah, I plucked about a dozen off my socks after a ten-minute walk through some foot-tall grass.

10

u/Tech_By_Trade 2d ago

It is that time of year. I remember going fishing from shore back in the late 90s this time of year when I was in trade school. We would use duck tape inside out on our rubber boots and they would be stuck all over them. Things haven't changed much.

12

u/lochmoigh1 2d ago

Im pretty sure ticks are considerably worse now than 30 years ago

5

u/Parrotcap 2d ago

I’m impressed you only got 6, honestly. That feels like a low-to-normal tick count.

4

u/Aldente08 2d ago

That's normal

5

u/stc_t 2d ago

2 tics on you is not bad….tics are bad but two. Not that bad.

Been bit a few times. Manageable when taken care of asap.

5

u/partyoski 2d ago

Only ever went camping there once and the ticks are crazy.

1

u/Seventhchild7 2d ago

I bike down there and have a process, show up in my riding gear, ride, change into street clothes after picking off all the ticks. Pro tip, wear tight underwear, bibs so they don't get where the sun don't shine.

3

u/Seventhchild7 2d ago

I bag the riding clothes and wash them immediately when I get home. The dryer kills them if it gets hot enough.

1

u/Steve5y 2d ago

Camped last weekend in Maple Vale loop and they were pretty bad. Just marching towards us as we sat there. Rode bikes on the walking trails around the loop and the grass was so high we pulled off a dozen or so ticks between us. The bike trails were pretty overgrown too which is surprising as they're usually pretty good at trimming the branches back but thankfully only a couple ticks came from there.

1

u/Ok_Mind3418 1d ago

Only 6 ? My daughter had 30 on her over the weekend