Tick Control in Georgia
By Mark Sargent, President of High Priority Pest Services · Updated October 7, 2026
Most tick advice written for a national audience leads with Lyme disease. In Georgia that is the wrong lead. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, the state recorded 143 cases of spotted fever rickettsiosis between 2020 and 2024, 130 cases of Lyme disease, and 50 combined cases of ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis. Spotted fever, not Lyme, is the most reported tick-borne illness here — and the tick most people actually encounter in Georgia is not the one that transmits Lyme.
That matters for what you watch for after a bite, and it is worth knowing before you read a checklist written for Connecticut.
The Ticks You Will Actually Meet Here
- Lone star tick. The common one across most of Georgia, and aggressive about seeking hosts — it will cross open ground toward you rather than waiting. The adult female has a single white dot on her back. Associated with ehrlichiosis, and with alpha-gal syndrome.
- American dog tick. Larger, mottled gray-brown markings, common in tall grass and along field and trail edges. The primary vector for spotted fever rickettsiosis in the Southeast.
- Blacklegged tick, sometimes called the deer tick. Present in Georgia and the Lyme vector, but far less commonly encountered here than in the Northeast, which tracks with the state’s low Lyme numbers.
- Brown dog tick. The one that can complete its whole life cycle indoors, which makes it the species capable of infesting a house or kennel rather than just a yard.
Alpha-Gal Is the One People Have Not Heard Of
The lone star tick is associated with alpha-gal syndrome, an allergy to mammalian meat that develops after a bite. Georgia DPH identifies lone star ticks as the likely culprit in the United States. It is not an infection and it does not present like one — reactions to beef, pork and lamb typically appear hours after eating, which is why it goes undiagnosed for so long. Anyone in this state who spends time in brush and then develops unexplained delayed reactions to red meat should raise it with a doctor specifically.
Where Ticks Are on a Georgia Property
Ticks do not live in mown, sunny lawn. They dry out. They concentrate in a narrow band of habitat that is entirely predictable:
- The transition edge where lawn meets woods — the single highest-risk strip on most properties
- Leaf litter under trees and along fence lines
- Tall grass and unmown areas, especially along paths and field edges
- Ground cover, ivy and dense low plantings near the house
- Around woodpiles, stone walls and outbuildings where rodents shelter
That last one is the connection most people miss. Ticks need hosts, and the small mammals living around your woodpile and outbuildings are how the population sustains itself. On rural and lake property, deer bring adult ticks in and drop engorged females to lay eggs. Reducing rodent harborage and managing deer browse does more for tick pressure than most people expect — which is why our deer repellent program has a bearing on this and not only on your shrubs.
Season
Georgia does not get a real tick-free season. Adult activity runs strongly from spring into early summer, nymphs — which are the size of a poppy seed and responsible for most bites that go unnoticed — peak through late spring and summer, and adult American dog ticks and blacklegged ticks stay active into fall and through mild winter spells. Practically, treat tick precautions as a year-round habit here rather than a summer one.
What Works on a Property
Perimeter and habitat treatment applied to the woodland edge, leaf litter, ground cover and fence lines is what reduces tick numbers. Broadcast-spraying open lawn is largely wasted effort, because that is not where they are. Alongside treatment, the physical changes that hold up are real: keeping a mown, mulched or gravel buffer between lawn and woods, clearing leaf litter, moving woodpiles away from the house and up off the ground, and thinning dense ground cover near paths and play areas.
Pets need veterinary tick prevention regardless of what happens in the yard. A dog moving between treated lawn and untreated woods will carry ticks to the door, and the brown dog tick is fully capable of establishing indoors from there.
What We Do About Them
Tick work is handled as targeted habitat treatment on the areas that actually hold them, on a schedule through the active season, alongside the recurring service in the Priority Pest Management Plan. Because rodents and deer sustain tick populations, we look at the whole property — house, outbuildings and the ground between — rather than treating a perimeter and leaving.
If pests return between scheduled visits, so do we, at no extra charge. We are licensed by the Georgia Department of Agriculture and serve central and eastern Georgia.
Make the Yard Usable Again
Call or text High Priority Pest Services at (470) 474-2847. Tell us what you are seeing and where, and we will tell you what is likely driving it. Service is available within 24 hours, and our work is backed by the High Priority Promise: if pests return between scheduled visits, so do we, at no extra charge.
Schedule Pest Service
Tell us what you’re seeing and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours. Office hours are Mon–Sun, 8AM–6PM — and we’re available 24/7 for urgent problems, so call (470) 474-2847 if it can’t wait.
Where we treat this
High Priority treats this pest across the Lake Country, including Eatonton, Lake Oconee, Greensboro, Madison and Milledgeville. See all areas we serve, our current prices and the Georgia pest calendar.