Backcountry first aid · CA

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Seasonal advisory · Spring 2026

Peak deer tick activity runs late April through June across southern Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes, and southern Manitoba. Range is expanding north each year — check yourself after every outing, including suburban yards.

✕ ✕ ✕   Triage start   ✕ ✕ ✕

Found a tick?
Start here.

Three doors. Pick the one that matches the situation. Each opens a short, plain-language guide — field-tested, Canadian, no clinical fluff. If you're in the woods with someone bitten, go straight to Remove It.

Action · in the field

Remove it

Fine-tipped tweezers, straight pull. No matches, no Vaseline. Steps and the things that make it worse.

Open guide
Calm · informational

Identify it

Wood tick? Deer tick? Nymph or adult? What species you’re dealing with changes the risk.

Open guide
Urgent · symptomsURGENT

I think I’m sick

Fever, rash, joint pain, facial weakness? What to watch for and where to go — pharmacist, doctor, or ER.

Open guide

Field reference · 60-second version

The whole removal protocol, on one card.

Print it, fold it, tape it to the inside of your first aid kit. We designed it for the moment when you don't have time to scroll.

  • Five things to never do, with the reason each one matters.
  • Four-step removal with the same wording your doctor will use.
  • Save the tick — the one piece of advice almost no one knows.
  • Ontario pharmacist note — no doctor required if you act inside 72 hours.
Full removal guide
⟁Tip: laminate it for the truck glovebox. We’ve had it survive three field seasons.

Backcountry first aid · Field reference

Tick Removal — done right

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Never do these
  • ✕Matches, heat, or flameForces the tick to regurgitate into the bite — exactly how Lyme and co-infections enter
  • ✕Nail polish or VaselineSame result — stresses the tick into emptying its gut
  • ✕Soap on cottonSame mechanism, same risk
  • ✕Twisting or jerkingMouthparts are barbed — steady upward pull only
  • ✕Digging out a broken mouthpartYour body pushes it out like a splinter. Digging causes more damage
How to remove it
  1. 1Use fine-tipped tweezers. Grip at the mouthparts where they enter skin — not the body.
  2. 2Pull straight up with steady pressure. It will resist. Hold firm — releases within seconds.
  3. 3If a mouthpart breaks off, leave it alone. Your body will push it out.
  4. 4Clean the bite with alcohol or soap and water. Wash your hands.
Save the tick — do not flush it

Tape it to an index card with clear packing tape. Write the date and location on your body. Keep for 30 days. If you develop symptoms, that tick goes with you to the doctor. Some labs test it directly — faster and more reliable than waiting for antibodies to show in your blood. A dated tick on a card is one of the most useful things you can hand a doctor.

When to act immediately

If the tick was engorged and you cannot confirm it was off within 24 hours, do not wait for a rash. Many Lyme cases never produce a bullseye. A single preventive dose of doxycycline within 72 hours of a deer tick bite cuts transmission risk significantly.

Ontario residents

No doctor required. A pharmacist can prescribe the preventive doxycycline dose if criteria are met: deer tick, estimated 24+ hours attached, within 72 hours of removal. Walk in with the tick on a card and a clear timeline.

Tick Removal Field GuideWatch 30 days for: rash · fever · joint pain · flu-like illness

Designed to print on a single letter page · portrait

Who this is for

Plain-talking tick info for Canada.

woodticks.ca is a Canadian public information resource. We write the way you’d talk to a friend at the trailhead: short paragraphs, real names for the ticks in your province, the things that change outcomes (the 24-hour window, the 72-hour pharmacist window, the no-bullseye reality). Every page tells you when it was last reviewed.

General information only — not medical advice. In an emergency, call 911. Read the full disclaimer.