Tick dragging

To conduct a tick drag, a researcher uses a 1-square-metre (11 sq ft) strip of white cloth, usually corduroy, mounted on a pole that is tied to a length of rope.

The researcher drags the cloth behind themselves through terrain that is suspected of harboring ticks, working in a grid-like pattern.

They may also "flag" low-lying bushes and other vegetation by waving the cloth over them.

[4] It was concluded that the cloth-dragging technique is useful both for surveying ticks' and to estimate and compare abundance between years and areas.

[4] The practice of dragging a large white cloth across suspected tick-infested terrain is described in biological field guides from the early 20th century.