Isle Royale Forums

Are there ticks on Isle Royale? I've been there at least 10 times in spring, summer and fall, and never seen or heard of them. However, I haven't been there in about 20 years. How are things now?

Thanks.

There are winter ticks, which are afflicting the moose population. It's been one of the bigger issues impacting the moose in recent years, since they latch on and the moose nearly scratch themselves bare, losing the insulation layer. They do not latch to humans from what I understand.
There are not, however, considered to be brown or deer ticks, the common ones in the rest of the north woods and prairie. So, add another reason for an Isle Royale visit: No ticks.

+1 to what Tom said. I wrote to one of the guys in Natural Resources at IR and he said:

"The ticks out there don't get on humans. They are specific to ungulates."

Bob

When I hike and camp around the country my worries are Bears,Cougars,Skunks and Ticks. On IR the only concern I have are mosquitoes and Black Flies. No problem though since I am on the Island before and or after the bugs are out. Isle Royale is wonderful!!!

Also no:

raccoons
poisonous snakes
poison oak
poison sumac
poison ivy (or very little)

But you do have to worry about squirrels - one chewed a hole through my wife's pack.

On the ticks - there is more information on another thread, but I couldn't find it. I listed some of the information that I gleaned during a Ranger talk on the ticks of Isle Royale.

sgerbs wrote:But you do have to worry about squirrels - one chewed a hole through my wife's pack.

...And like I shared in my talk, the squirrels found on Isle Royale are a unique subspecies only found there! They've been isolated long enough from the mainland, apparently. They have a slightly different color and different vocalizations. More annoying, if you ask me.

There is a particular squirrel at Desor North that would try to get into EVERYTHING if we didn't watch over him.

Yeah we dealt with this guy too. He stole our pot brush from campsite #1 @ North Desor about 5 yrs. ago. He pestered us the whole time we were there. We've also had a squirrel chew through my wife's pack at Lake Richie back in 2000, and in that same year our trip was almost ruined on our first morning when we realized Ransom had taken our white gas supplies for the week. We looked for about an hour and just before giving up we found his stash back in the woods behind tent site #15 at Daisy including our fuel. The foxes will take anything. Secure it!