Town of Southwest Harbor · Public Health
Protect Yourself and Your Family from Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases
Black-legged (deer) ticks are common in coastal Maine, including Mount Desert Island. These tiny ticks can carry Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis. Cases are increasing statewide, and prevention is your best protection.
After Every Outing
Check yourself, your kids, and your pets every day
Even your own yard can harbor ticks. A daily tick check is the single most important step you can take.
Check yourself, kids, and pets every day after being outdoors — even in your own yard
Focus on warm, hidden spots: behind knees, armpits, groin, hairline, belly button
Use a mirror or ask someone to check your back
Check gear and clothing before coming inside; tumble-dry on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks
Before You Go Out
Dress for defense
Light-colored clothing
Makes ticks easier to spot before they reach skin
Tuck pants into socks
And shirt into pants when hiking or working in brush
Permethrin on clothing
Treat clothing and boots — lasts through multiple washes
EPA-registered repellent
Use DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus on exposed skin
If You Find a Tick
Remove it safely — step by step
- 1
Use fine-tipped tweezers
Grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible
- 2
Pull straight up with steady pressure
Don't twist or jerk — this can cause the mouthparts to break off in the skin
- 3
Clean the bite area
Wash with soap and water or rubbing alcohol
- 4
Save the tick
Place it in a sealed bag or container with the date and location where you were bitten
- 5
Watch for symptoms
Call your doctor if you develop a rash, fever, or flu-like illness
UMaine Tick Lab offers FREE tick identification. Send your tick for testing to find out if it may carry disease. Learn more at extension.umaine.edu/ticks
Deer & Ticks
Deer, ticks, and the Tremont hunt
Deer hunting has been closed on Mount Desert Island since 1931, written into state law as a “continual closed season on deer” for the island. [1] On August 11, 2026 the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Advisory Council approved a limited deer hunt in the Town of Tremont — the first legal deer hunting anywhere on the island in nearly a century. [2] Reducing Lyme disease was one of the reasons Tremont gave for asking.
The connection between deer and Lyme is real but narrower than it is usually described. Deer are the main blood host for adult black-legged ticks, so they largely determine how many ticks reproduce — but deer do not carry the Lyme bacterium. Ticks pick that up from white-footed mice and other small mammals. [3] Fewer deer can therefore mean fewer ticks without changing the share of ticks that are infected, which is why a US CDC review concluded that “robust evidence linking deer control to reduced human Lyme disease risk is lacking.” [3]
If you walk in Tremont this November, wear blaze orange. Shotgun and archery hunting for deer will be legal there. Southwest Harbor and the rest of the island stay closed, and Acadia National Park trails remain closed to all hunting. Adult ticks are active whenever the temperature is above freezing, so the checks and repellent above still matter after the summer crowds leave.
The full picture — the terms of the Tremont hunt, where Southwest Harbor stands, what the deer-reduction studies actually found, what is and is not being counted, the collision reporting law, and how to keep deer out of a garden — is on the Deer Nuisance page.