With anglers casting for trout along grassy-banked streams and woodlots, and spring gobbler hunters sitting in front of tree's, this makes them all susceptible to the dreaded tick bite.

Since we had a mild winter snow wise, ticks are already active and abundant and will readily attach themselves to sportsmen and sports ladies traipsing these areas. While they are a threat, outdoors folks shouldn't refrain from going afield if they take measures to prevent a tick bite and possible Lyme disease.

Ticks, according to the Center for Disease Control, are often classified as either hard or soft ticks. Hard ticks are often found in wooded, grassy or other densely vegetated areas while soft ticks tend to reside in bird nests, on rodents and on bats. Some species are host-specific and a female tick can lay anywhere from 3,000 to 11,000 eggs, making them prolific carriers.

The most likely way to reduce tick contact and tick-borne diseases is to avoid tick-infested habitat. But that's not an option for outdoors folks. Even home owners, who live near or next to woodlots that hold field mice and deer who are carriers of ticks, can get bit just by doing garden work or even cutting the lawn.

There are, however, a few simple precautions to take that can reduce the chances of picking up a tick or two.

#1: Since most ticks crawl upward onto a host, it's recommended that you tuck your pantlegs into your boots and shirts into your pants. For extra protection, it's recommended that you tape such clothing junctures with duct tape, then twist the tape so the sticky side is out and make on more wrap. There are also gaiters, like those from www.Sealyurpants.com, a local Whitehall-based supplier, that are easier to use in helping keep ticks from finding their way up your legs.

#2: Before going afield, spray your neck and legs above your shoe or boot line with DEET. Then spray your pantlegs, shirt and jacket collar, hat, sleeve cuffs and footwear with permethrin (available at Cabela's in Hamburg and better sporting goods stores), but do not get it on your skin. Permethrin remains on clothing fibers even through several washings. There is also a permethrin concentrate that is mixed with water that can be sprayed on your lawns and bushes.

#3: It's recommended that you wear light-colored clothing to more easily see the ticks before they find their way to your skin, but for camo clad hunters, that's impossible to do.

#4: When returning from the outdoors, inspect all your clothing before going inside. Once inside, do a thorough body inspection - especially the head – and wash your clothing as soon as possible.

If a tick is found, research trials have shown that the best method to remove a tick is to grasp the tick close to the skin with fine-tipped tweezers (CVS sells one especially for this), placing the tweezers close to and parallel to the skin so that you grasp the base of the ticks' mouthparts rather than its body. Pull gently but firmly, straight away from the skin until the tick comes free. It's best to grasp a tick from its back to its belly, instead of from side to side, as this helps prevent the ticks' mouthparts from remaining imbedded in the skin. The sooner a tick is removed the less chance it will transmit a disease.

The resulting Lyme disease is no fun in that despite treating it with antibiotics, it still stays with you for the rest of your life. In 2011, the CDC said Pennsylvania alone had 4,739 confirmed cases of Lyme disease.

After a tick bite, Lyme disease may progress several weeks without signs of illness. And not all folks get the telltale bulls-eye spot from the bite. Some doctors may not even know and treat the wound as a spider bite as was diagnosed for a friend of mine. Years of pain (which she still gets on occasion in her joints) and physical and mental impairment can result if untreated.

If signs of severe or persistent headaches, fever, soreness or stiffness in muscles and joints, appetite loss, fatigue, or a skin rash occur within three weeks after a tick bite, contact your doctor immediately. Early diagnosis and treatment is critical says the CDC.