- (301) 829-0060
- Mt. Airy, MD
- info@pestshieldinc.com
Pest Shield has been treating tick pressure on Frederick County properties since 2011, licensed by the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA #30263) and led by owner Troy Yowell, who brings roughly 35 years of pest management experience to every property assessment. Our team includes on-staff entomologist Jeffrey Allwine, giving us species-level identification capability that most small residential pest companies have to outsource. With 338+ five-star reviews across Google and HomeAdvisor and back-to-back Best of Nextdoor recognition from 2021 through 2024, we’re the local choice Frederick homeowners turn to when ticks start showing up on kids, dogs, or pant legs after a walk through the yard.
How it works
Four steps. No surprises. Same answer whether it's your first call or your tenth.
You reach Troy or someone on his team directly. No call center, no dispatcher, no routing.
Same-day or next-day for most calls. Emergency stinging-insect situations and real-estate WDI deadlines get priority.
We identify the species, locate entry points, and find the source — not just the symptom.
Written recommendation, straightforward pricing, no obligation. If you don't need treatment, we'll tell you.
Most people discover their tick problem the same way: a tick on a child’s scalp after playing in the yard, one crawling up a dog’s ear after a walk along the tree line, or several found during a routine check after gardening. By the time you’re finding ticks on family members or pets, your property already has an established population — and the conditions that support it haven’t changed on their own.
Ticks don’t drop from trees. They wait at ground level and on low vegetation for a host to pass by. On a typical Frederick County residential property, that means specific zones do most of the work:
Two tick species drive most of the activity in Frederick County:
We mention the diseases as context, not as a scare tactic. Reducing the tick population on your property reduces the number of encounters your family and pets have with ticks, which is the practical reason to treat. A single treatment knocks down the current generation, but ticks reproduce on a seasonal cycle and new ones move in from adjacent wooded areas, deer trails, and neighboring properties — so what really matters is keeping pressure low across the entire active season, not just resolving one bad week.
60+ years of combined experience. Tell us what you’re seeing — we’ll come look, no obligation.
Absolutely love this company! Troy was wonderful to work with. He was professional, courteous, and super friendly. We live in the country and had a significant mice problem. Troy came in and immediately went to work. Within a very short time our mice problem was history. I will definitely be using Pest Shield, Inc again if needed and will recommend them to everyone!!!!
Kim Mercer · March 2020 Read on Google →
We chose Pest Shield after contacting a few different pest control companies because we liked how Troy took his time to explain his experience and the science behind the products he uses. Troy has been working with us to manage two separate infestations and he has been incredibly generous with his time, energy and expertise. After speaking with my husband, he offered to come out the same day and as he inspected the house, he offered useful suggestions for ways to manage other things like spiders in the windows. We have a young son who is immunocompromised and Troy was very respectful of the safety precautions that we are currently taking. We are so grateful for his knowledge, promptness and kindness.
Erin Swen · December 2021 Read on Google →
We have used Pest Shield twice so far and each time we had an exceptional experience. We found Troy to be very honest, knowledgeable and professional. This company is built on integrity and will not overcharge you for services that are not needed. They know the biology behind the pests and the problem and won’t just spray to spray something. I highly recommend this company.
Jennifer Swistak · April 2025 Read on Google →
General pest & rodent control
Every new tick job starts with a free property inspection. Troy or one of our pest management professionals walks the property to identify where ticks are likely concentrated — the lawn perimeter, the brushy edges, the leaf litter zones, the shaded beds, the wood piles. The treatment plan is built around what we find, not a one-size template applied to every yard.
Our approach to ticks is exterior-focused, which is consistent with how we handle most pest control in Frederick: treat the outdoor zones where the pest actually lives, keep the chemicals outside, and protect the interior by stopping the problem at the property line. For ticks specifically, that means targeted application to:
One treatment will knock down the active tick population on your property, and you should see a meaningful drop in activity within the first couple of weeks. But ticks have a seasonal life cycle and constant pressure from adjacent properties, deer movement, and wildlife corridors, which is why we recommend the Standard Care Plan for ongoing tick control. The plan runs on a 60-day bi-monthly cadence — more frequent than the industry-standard quarterly schedule — and carries a 100% effective guarantee, meaning if tick activity returns between scheduled visits we come back at no charge. Treatment is exterior, so you don’t need to be home for service visits, and the cadence is calibrated to interrupt tick life cycles before populations rebuild.
On safety: we use EPA-approved products and have non-toxic and pet- and child-safe options available when families have specific concerns. Troy walks every customer through what’s being applied, what areas to keep kids and pets off of and for how long after treatment, and any other precautions specific to your property — that conversation happens before we treat, not after. Pest Shield has treated properties with crawling babies, immunocompromised kids, and large dogs with this same approach.
Owner
Founded Pest Shield in 2011 after years as a pest management contractor on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Around 35 years in pest management. Personally handles or leads the majority of service calls.
Pest Management Specialist
Field technician handling residential and commercial service calls across Frederick, Carroll, and Montgomery counties.
Pest Management Specialist
Field technician handling residential and commercial service calls across the service area.
Our Entomologist
Consulting entomologist on species identification, conducive conditions, and treatment strategy for difficult cases.
Frederick sits at the intersection of farmland, forested ridgelines, and growing suburban neighborhoods, with the Catoctin foothills to the west, Gambrill State Park along the ridge, and the Monocacy River corridor cutting through the eastern half of the county. Properties along these wooded edges, agricultural margins, and creek bottoms see consistent deer and small mammal movement — the exact wildlife corridors that move ticks onto residential land.
This landscape is why tick pressure in Frederick isn’t limited to rural homes. Neighborhoods backing up to undeveloped tracts, parks, and farm fields share the same exposure as properties deeper in the county — deer ticks travel with their hosts, and a wooded edge half a mile away still feeds a steady supply onto the yard. Treating the property line and harborage zones is what actually breaks that pattern. Wildlife corridors also bring mosquitoes and other biting pests that thrive in the same damp, shaded conditions ticks prefer.
Tick activity in Frederick County runs from early spring through late fall, with the heaviest pressure typically from April through October. Deer tick adults stay active on any winter day above about 40°F, so the “off-season” is shorter than most homeowners assume. American dog ticks peak from spring into midsummer, and deer tick nymphs — the stage most often responsible for Lyme transmission — peak in late spring and summer. That’s why the Standard Care Plan’s 60-day cadence runs through the full active window rather than treating once and waiting.
Yes — we use EPA-approved products and offer non-toxic and pet- and child-safe options when families have specific concerns. Troy walks through what’s being applied and gives clear guidance on how long to keep kids and pets off treated areas before re-entry, and our exterior-focused approach keeps chemicals out of the home. We’ve treated plenty of Frederick County properties with dogs, young children, and family members with health sensitivities using this same approach.
One treatment will significantly reduce the current tick population on your property, and you’ll see results within the first couple of weeks. But ticks reproduce seasonally and new ones move in continuously from adjacent woods, deer trails, and neighboring properties — so a single treatment in May won’t hold through October. For real tick control, we recommend the Standard Care Plan, which treats your property every 60 days through the active season and includes a 100% effective guarantee with free retreatment between visits if activity returns.
No. Tick treatment is exterior-focused, so we can complete scheduled Standard Care Plan visits whether you’re home or not. We’ll let you know when treatment is complete and pass along any re-entry guidance — usually a brief wait until the application dries before kids and pets are back on treated areas. The initial inspection visit is the one where it helps to have someone available, so we can walk the property together and identify the zones that need attention.
The two species responsible for most tick encounters in Frederick County are the deer tick (Ixodes scapularis, also called the black-legged tick), which is the primary Lyme disease vector in Maryland, and the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), which is most commonly associated with Rocky Mountain spotted fever transmission in the region. Reducing the tick population on your property is the most direct way to reduce your family’s and pets’ chances of an encounter. For anything related to actual exposure or symptoms, talk to a physician or veterinarian — that’s outside what we do.
