High on the list of a forest walker’s unwelcome animals is the wood tick. An encounter with mosquitoes is a nuisance, a black bear on the path is merely fun (it is a bashful beast), but a tick—that’s bad. It is a disease-spreading blood sucker. (Mind you, I would prefer a tick to a cougar).
But, wood ticks are fortunately not all that common, and they are only encountered in the dry parts of the provincial interior in the Spring, typically from March to June. So, why did I find a wood tick on my clothes yesterday? Apparently, it had failed to read the instruction manual. Actually, while it is unusual to encounter one this late in the year, it is not unknown.
A wood tick on my trousers. It did not feed on me, and it was unceremoniously ejected.
As if to underscore my preference for bears over ticks, a few minutes later a bear wandered across my path. It then drifted away as I took pictures.
That is why I love mother nature, she doesn’t always play by our rules.
Ticks are nasty little critters..