A few friends and I were camping on Assateaque National Seashore in Maryland. AT the time I was a noxer, so I wasn't finding any boxes, just camping and partying. Well, we had this incredibly nice campground set up, dining fly, tents, fold out chair and tables, grills, etc. The first night we were there, this huge storm came and literally broke EVERYTHING, it actually ripped the top offf of our water proof tent, so we were sleeping in what was pretty much a collapsible fish bowl.

Well, we retired to the car and I was awaken in the morning to this HORRIBLE screaming. It seems that one of my friends had found a tick just starting to work into his skin. Well, he was able to brush it off and we loaded up the car with our wet stuff to go into town to dry it off.

Upon returning to the Island to clean up our campsite (we rented a hotel by this point) my friend slams on the brakes and nearly does a 190 in the middle of the road. I look at him, eyes wide, and say; "Dude, what is the freakin deal?"

He looks over at me, a look of fear I will never forget wanes across his face, and in an agonized croak from the bowels of his very being says: "Dude, I think I have a d*** tick." (for those of you who have not interpreted this yet, the d word rhymes with "tick")

Now, loving caring friend that I am, I immediately began laughing hard enough to nearly pee myself. I was the most outdoorsy out of the three of us, and when my laughter had subsided to a mere chuckling, I suggested he hold the tip of a lit cigarette up to the tick's butt (not touching it, just holding it like half an inch away) and this will cause the tick to back out. I had heard this works, and thankfully for my friend and his junk, it did.

I relay this story not so much for a viable tick removal option, but more so cuz I think it's a funny story. The cigarette thing did work though.

Mr. Yuk (still chuckles when he thinks of this story)

That is a funny story! At least your friend had a reason to scream, especially since he picked up a hitchhiker in a very private spot. Ticks do like to do their nasty business in private.

People have made children so fearful of ticks..... I had a 6th grader (outdoor tour) "silently" crying when she discovered a tick crawling on her jeans. She was so paralyzed with fear, she could not tell me what was wrong with her. She just pointed to her pants' leg, eyes wide, huge tears falling from her face. She cheered-up when I captured the dog tick on a piece of tape and handed it to her. I called it her "trophy".

Your tick story beats any tick story I've heard!

T. of
TheThreeCs