They are out there for sure even in the cold weather, Klizich and I were in Sparta WMA 10/25/06, hiking around Rykers lake, at one point we had 11 ticks on us at one time, there was no tall grass just the typical woodland trails. I ended up with another 2 hitch hickers later bringing my total to 8, 13 for the day between us, these were the little deer ticks, so keep checking.