Sustained control of Gibson Island, Maryland, populations of Ixodes scapularis and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) by community-administered 4-Poster deer self-treatment bait stations.

In 1998, twenty-five 4-Poster deer treatment bait stations were deployed on Gibson Island (GI), Maryland, as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Northeast Area-Wide Tick Control Project. Treatments concluded in June 2002, having achieved 80% and 99.5% control of blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, and lone star ticks, Amblyomma americanum, respectively. No area-wide tick control was attempted again on the island until 2003, when 15 Dandux-manufactured 4-Posters were purchased by the GI Corporation and operated until the present. Annual flagging at sites on the island and a similar untreated area on the nearby mainland in May and June from 1998 to 2007 has demonstrated that populations of host-seeking nymphs of both tick species have remained at consistently low levels on the island during GI Corporation administration of the 4-Posters, in spite of 40% fewer 4-Posters and increased deer density during 2003-2007.