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Dylan Prater and I have been best friends for 43 years. Our moms met nursing us at a church party back in 1981. While Dylan enjoys golf and fishing, his hunting experience has been limited to a handful of dove hunts, an axis doe and an extensive list of failed spring turkey hunts with yours truly. So, when he mentioned he wanted to give spring turkey another go this year, I immediately called our mutual friend Roland Mackie in Tennessee to see about coming to hunt on his farm. I figured we could get Dylan his first gobbler and I could get my first Eastern, you know, kill two birds with one stone.

Roland was gung-ho to have us, but the hunting was pretty tough. I ended up taking the only bird of the trip and you’ll enjoy hearing Dylan recount how that played out during this episode. Upon flying back to North Texas, he called me and said he found a couple ticks on him. I told him not to worry as I’ve been bitten by hundreds of ticks over the years and haven’t had any issue. 36 hours later, he called me back to tell me he was being treated for Lyme disease. Dylan shares his brief and pro-active approach to dealing with this nasty tick-borne illness.

Josh Dahlke, our good friend from HuntStand, had a very different experience with Lyme disease. Misdiagnosed multiple times over a couple year period, Josh couldn’t figure out what was wrong with his body, he just knew something was dreadfully off. He missed an entire bow season with an aching shoulder; he dealt with anxiety and brain fog as well aching joints and just an overall new normal of feeling like crap for months on end. Finally, while having an ingrown toenail cut out by a doctor, he got a diagnosis that would send him on the path to recovery.

Josh talks about the issues within the medical field when it comes to diagnosing and treating tick-borne illnesses. He shares his in-depth knowledge on types of ticks and the different illnesses they each carry. He also dispels some common misinformation when it comes to tick bites and whether or not you should be worried about being infected. Do nymphs or just adult ticks carry disease? How long do they need to be attached to you to transmit disease? How to deal with your physician if you’ve been bitten and how to prevent tick bites are also covered.

Of course, we also mix in a heavy dose of spring turkey talk as well. Enjoy!