Killing Ticks on Deer: Four-Poster Stations

Deer are the main host for adult ticks, so some folks figured: why not treat the deer themselves instead of fighting the yard?

A four-poster station is basically a corn-baited feeder with four rollers around it, each one coated in 10% permethrin. When a deer drops its head down to eat, those rollers brush right against its neck, ears, and shoulders, and that puts the pesticide on the deer for free. The USDA came up with this back in 1996 for cattle, and the EPA signed off on using it for ticks in 2004.

Mixed Results

Multi-year tests on Shelter Island and Fire Island in New York showed these stations really did bring tick numbers down over time when people kept up with them. Other tests weren't so kind. A pilot program in Fairfax County, Virginia didn't move the tick numbers at all, and it came with real problems besides: all that corn drew way more deer to the area and got them bunching up at the feeders, which chewed up the ground cover and left a lot of bare dirt where there used to be plants. The deer population in the area actually went up over the course of the study.

Bunching deer together at a shared feeder also opens the door to spreading chronic wasting disease between them, and that corn pile is going to attract raccoons and other critters that can carry their own diseases around too.

The Honest Take

Four-posters can work, but the results jump around a lot between studies, the cost and the permits you need are no small thing, and there are real downsides to pulling a bunch of deer into one spot. This isn't something you do in your own backyard. Most states require a permit, and really this is a job for a township or a community group, not one homeowner with a feeder.