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4-poster device

Published at 2700 × 1916 in Community-Wide Integrated Tick Management: Not Cheap, New Study Shows

On mowed grass sits a device made of sheet metal. The center portion is a tall box with a lockable lid. At the bottom, a partially covered tray extends outward on each side of the box. The outer half of the tray is open, where a deer would feed on the food dispensed into the tray from the tall center box. At the very outer edge of each tray are two posts, about 1 foot tall each, cased in yellow foam, which the deer would have to contact when feeding.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are a key host for blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis), vectors of Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis in the eastern U.S. A common tool in integrated tick management programs is the “4-poster” device, which applies acaracide to deer as they feed on corn bait. (Photo by Mat Pound, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org)

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