Turkey and ticks!

[Greenhorn]

Got my second turkey in Klickitat County this morning and it had a totally different color than my first one at the same place.  I think this second one is the standard color so I thought I would go and grab a wing from the first carcass from a couple of weeks ago to compare them.  Talk about nasty smelling.  Anyway when I was driving back in the driveway I noticed some ticks on my arms and then when I got out they were all over me.  I am guessing that I picked them up from the old carcass but I don't know.  I sprayed them with starting fluid and was very tempted to light myself on fire to get rid of them.  There was a minimum of 40 that I had picked off, not counting the ones that had fallen off when I sprayed them.  This is my first turkey season and I had a great time chasing these guys.

[92xj]

If the whole bird and fan matched that one wing from your first bird I believe it would have made it to my wall. Do you have pictures of your first bird? Thats awesome coloring on the wing.

[C-Money]

Sounds like a great turkey season!! Nasty looking ticks...

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Nice bird!!!!!

[Greenhorn]

If the whole bird and fan matched that one wing from your first bird I believe it would have made it to my wall. Do you have pictures of your first bird? Thats awesome coloring on the wing.

Since this was my first turkey, I had no idea what to look for or what to do with it.  I kept some tail feathers but it was a beautiful bird.  The whole fan was intact.  This is not the best picture, but is the best one I have.

[turkeydancer]

My first day of turkey hunting I had ticks on me three times .... that night I picked up 4 cans oof Sawyer tick spray and sprayed my pants, shirt, jacket, gloves, face mask, boots, etc paying particular attention to any and all opening.   Now it's a ritual before season.  It will last thru several washing of the clothes.   Haven't had a tick on me since .....   nasty little buggers that carry Lyme disease.

[mtnseth]

This tick season is weird.  I went through the entire turkey season until Memorial Day weekend without any ticks.  I was surprised.  I killed my last bird on May 17 in 2013 and was finding 20-30 on me per day.  I hunted the panhandle in Idaho on the 24th this year and only found 2 on me in a full day. 

You must have brushed right through a batch of new adults. 

Turkeydancer, only west side ticks (Ixodes spp.) carry Lyme, so you had better spray it on thick if you're hunting late season easterns.  The common eastside tick (Dermacentor spp.; the one in the OP's photo) doesn't carry Lyme, but it does potentially carry many other nasty things.  However, I'm most prone to the psychosomatic disease of feeling those things crawling on me for days after being outdoors, even when they're not. 

[d.winsor]

I would doubt that you got the ticks from the carcass of the first one.  Be it deer or turkey when you harvest one the body starts cooling and the blood stops flowing.  The ticks will abandon their host and look for another one, I always assumed if it was in cold winter that the tick would die.  I can't say for sure on that its just what I think.  I use to always get more ticks on me by walking thru grass that was about 1 foot high.  Just as the previous post about sawyers, I use permanone or sawyers every year.  Since 1992 and have never had a tick on me yet.  I started using sawyers this year, it says you can wash your clothes up to 6 times in a 6 week period and it will still kill ticks.  If ticks get on you they jump of fast or die soon after.  One other thing I read this year that if you put your treated clothes, after they have dried, in a black plastic bag it will increase the effective use of the clothes beyond 6 weeks.  Put them back in the bag each day you are done hunting.

[Greenhorn]

That is great to hear about the tick treatment.  I can't stand them, but we have quite a few around here.  Like mtnseth said, I too feel like they are crawling on me every little itch I get.

[caribou creek]

Ticks ,,, YUCK!!

The blond phase turkey, I would have mounted it , neat bird

[grousefether]

Hunted near goldendale 2 years ago. No birds and was covered in ticks by lunch time. Had a great time ha ha ha!