Back in May, I called BS on a ‘mental seed’ planted in the fertile minds of gullible readers by so-called “experts” on tick populations. By seed, I mean make a statement of opinion, surround it with the potential for facts, and let people believe it’s true.
Ticks, like COVID, can be manipulated to mean whatever the loudest voices claim – especially when they can shout down all contrary opinions. But sometimes subtle is more effective.
There are many factors that have made it difficult for experts to make predictions about the severity of tick season, Casey said. One factor making tick season especially unpredictable is climate change.
Our takeaway is that Climate “change” may not be one of the factors but coupled with the headline “Officials say tick season is now all year,” I bet at least a few people have repeated the notion as fact in casual conversation.
It’s hot, Darrell, and they say we’ll see more ticks when it’s hot, so there must be more ticks. Did you see any, Darrell? No, Darrell, I did not, but they say they’re there, so they must be, right?
Right?
June was unseasonably cold, but we did have a warm July, and you can see and feel that, even though Climate-wise, Vermont is not getting hotter. But if there are more ticks out there (black-legged, Dog, or Lone star), that means more end up on us and our animals. Otherwise, who cares?
As previously reported, we have a Yellow Lab, light with white fur, a few acres, and when ticks are most active (spring and fall), I can pull 2-4 of those blood-sucking parasites off the white dog every time we go outside. Sometimes more. A dozen or more in a given day would not be uncommon. I’d call that a decent baseline for “tick season” in my yard.
Any increase in the numbers in the summer months might justify some consideration of the theory, but we just went through what the same scaremongers may decide is the hottest July on record. It is not, but since they’ll insist and climate changes and messes things up (mostly cult narratives) if tick season is all year, we should be able to see that.
July is over, and I have a report from the White Dog Research Arm of GraniteGrok.com. We didn’t see any ticks on the dog in July. Not even one. None on him, none on me, and none on my beautiful research “assistant,” who spends a lot of time with our “lead researcher” in the yard when school is out of session.
She didn’t see any either.
Zero ticks!
We did see plenty of deer in June and July. More than is typical but not nearly as many turkeys and fewer poults (probably because of climate change – wink-wink).
So, what does that tell us?
Local predators are eating more poults and ticks are not “now all year.” Unlike Democrats, these parasites are like most every other year. Heavy in spring absent in summer. So, if someone brings it up, you have some details with which to contradict. And don’t be a jerk, just use statements of fact and ask questions. Did you see more ticks? I didn’t.
Do you have a baseline for comparison like I do or did you rely on journalists and their reporting?
I have years of hands-on “research,” and so far, tick season 2022 is not all year around here (yet), but we will be conducting extensive testing in August and every month after that.
I’ll bring you updates as they become available.
