My friend Dr. Grant Woods (www.growingdeer.tv) says deer paw at the pests to remove them this time of year: “Deer have difficulty grooming the area behind their head. I have images of deer that have pawed and/or rubbed enough to cut their skin in this area while trying to remove ticks. The secondary infection from this can cause problems.”
Ever seen deer licking and grooming areas they can reach in the summer? This could be to pull off ticks. Grant does not know if deer pull off and consume the ticks, as people believe.
The ticks are real bad this year in my neck of the woods. I’ve had one on me every day for the last week.”picked them up at the job site”. In fact I just picked one off of me less than a 1/2 hr. ago. Nasty things!