How do you guys protect yourself from Ticks while out in the field?

[Steve Pumilia]

I wear gaiters sprayed with permethrin over my shoes/pant legs.... seems to keep most out.

 

[Calson]

Where I live there are 22 known diseases spread by ticks and so I take precautions. Actually the same precautions as I take to avoid mosquito and chigger and other insect bites and insect borne diseases. I treat my socks, pants, and shirts with permethrin that I make as a 0.5% solution and spray on my clothes using a $10 garden sprayer. On my exposed skin I use a 20% picaridin repellent solution. The 0.5% solution last for 6 weeks and if I apply a 1.15% solution it will last for one year and through 50 laundry cycles. This is the same approach taken by the U.S. military for the soldiers that are stationed around the world. A 15-20 percent picaridin repellant works as well as DEET and yet does not damage plastics or synthetic clothing.

It is utter nonsense to think that the 0.005 permethrin on my clothes is going to damage aquatic life. First of all I don't wade through lakes in this clothing and the damage to the environment is 99.99 percent from agricultural pesticides and herbicides that applied by the tons to fields along with the fecal and urine run-off into streams and lakes. This is why I stopped eating meat and dairy.

I first tried this approach for a trip to Cambodia 20 years ago and during our two weeks in the backcountry my wife and I did not get a single mosquito bite.

 

[jeffnles1]

I buy permethrin in a gallon spray bottle (Amazon and I'm sure other vendors). A gallon lasts at least an entire season. After the second season I get rid of it and buy new just because I'm not sure if there is a shelf life time on it. Supposedly it will last several washings. I tend to retreat the clothing after the second washing. Not only does it seem to work for ticks, when I treat my socks and pants with it the incidence of chigger bites goes way down. Mosquitoes don't bite me for some reason so I don't know how it works for them. Black flies well, they bite (literally and figuratively).

Hope this helps.
Jeff

 

[Joe Donahue]

I tried treating my own clothes with the spray, found a couple ticks on me after the second washing. I bought the cargo pants from Insect Shield. No ticks. If I were to do it again, I would send my own clothes in for treatment as my wife says their pants are too baggy on me. But who cares when you are in the field? I bird with a guy and my daughters boyfriend both have the Alpha gal disease which makes them allergic to red meat. Bacon means too much for me to mess around.

 

[pochito]

Note several people recommend wearing a hat--not a cap. the all-around brim provides good protection if your head brushes branches.
And yes, ticks are good jumpers, you don't have to brush against grasses or limbs to acquire a tick.

An internet source: https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a32676044/best-tick-repellent/

As far as my poor experience goes, there are no ticks waiting on branches
Ticks don't live in trees, don't jump and don't fly.

 

[Rodamu]

My mistake, ticks don't jump. Here is what Wikipedia describes:
Ticks find their hosts by detecting animals' breath and body odors, or by sensing body heat, moisture, and vibrations.[48] They are incapable of flying or jumping, but many tick species, particularly Ixodidae, lie in wait in a position known as "questing". While questing, ticks cling to leaves and grasses by their third and fourth pairs of legs. They hold the first pair of legs outstretched, waiting to grasp and climb on to any passing host. Tick questing heights tend to be correlated with the size of the desired host; nymphs and small species tend to quest close to the ground, where they may encounter small mammalian or bird hosts; adults climb higher into the vegetation, where larger hosts may be encountered. Some species are hunters and lurk near places where hosts may rest. Upon receiving an olfactory or other stimulus, they crawl or run across the intervening surface.

 

[Ralph]

Most tick bites are painless and cause only minor signs and symptoms, such as redness, swelling or a sore on the skin. That's a reason why many people discover them too late if they are not careful.
Just my five cents.

You are correct. Except for the female Lone Star tick. Major swelling and burning. At least that’s my experience . One left a scare that lasted three years. And every so often it will swell like a mosquito bite.

 

[fchretdet]

I'm uncertain if this suggestion will work, but I read it in the most recent Reader's Digest. Applying a decongestant to ankles, exposed legs, etc-non jel type. Supposedly the ticks, and possibly other insects are repelled by the scent. I'm guessing the decongestant would be Vicks. Could be worth a try, although the smell may be a deterrent to the wearer as well.

 

[airestudiosmt]

In addition to spraying my clothing, I put a lint/cat hair roller in all my vehicles. When I get back to the vehicle, I run the roller all over before getting into the vehicle. Also, wearing light colored clothes help with spotting the pesky little critters. A camo colored Tyvek suit would be awesome.

 

[Chiguy]

Hi ,


I love going out into the woods and fields to walk and shoot. But being a NJ resident my whole life , the tick population has become ridiculous. I’m tired of becoming a pin cushion and the last thing I want in my life is to contract Lyme disease or some other tick born disease.

My question is, how do you guys deal with the problem? What type of clothing do you recommend. I know there are cloths you can buy that have permethrin in them. How effective are they? Is that my best bet? Any recommendation from your personnel experience would be much appreciated.

I'm in ILL and a volunteer in 2 grassland restorations as well as the Cook County Forest Preserve so I'm in tick infested grasslands all the time so I wear Insect Shield clothing they make clothing treated with Permethrin good for 70 washings I have their socks and T shirts and long sleeve shirts. They will treat clothes you send them as well they are in No Carolina. Go to their website https://www.insectshield.com/ Here is a tip always check yourself when back from field if your with someone have them look you over when home throw your clothes in a dryer on a hot cycle it will kill ticks

 

[tomcat]

Wear pantyhose and spray ankles with DEET. Also spray pyrethrin above the waist.

 

[pochito]

You are correct. Except for the female Lone Star tick. Major swelling and burning. At least that’s my experience . One left a scare that lasted three years. And every so often it will swell like a mosquito bite.

I have no experience with that particular tick but, generally speaking, ticks inject an anaesthetic into the skin at its point of entry, which helps it to avoid detection. That's why it should be painless.

 

[Oztours]

have them look you over when home

Now that might depend upon who your with...

 

[Andrew Lamberson]

I never knew I was bitten by the tick even though I always check. But apparently not good enough! The ticks that transmit the disease are very tiny and easy to miss. They are not the big "dog ticks". I probably got it while cutting the grass.

Here is a very good article on it and ticks. https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/HealthU/2020/06/16/do-all-ticks-carry-lyme-disease/

 

[bsinc1962]

I know how my wife keeps the ticks off her. She has me lead the way on hikes.

 

[Woody Meristem]

My mistake, ticks don't jump. Here is what Wikipedia describes:
Ticks find their hosts by detecting animals' breath and body odors, or by sensing body heat, moisture, and vibrations.[48] They are incapable of flying or jumping, but many tick species, particularly Ixodidae, lie in wait in a position known as "questing". While questing, ticks cling to leaves and grasses by their third and fourth pairs of legs. They hold the first pair of legs outstretched, waiting to grasp and climb on to any passing host. Tick questing heights tend to be correlated with the size of the desired host; nymphs and small species tend to quest close to the ground, where they may encounter small mammalian or bird hosts; adults climb higher into the vegetation, where larger hosts may be encountered. Some species are hunters and lurk near places where hosts may rest. Upon receiving an olfactory or other stimulus, they crawl or run across the intervening surface.

Although there's a lot of misinformation on Wikipedia, this is correct, ticks have neither wings nor legs capable of jumping. Black-legged (deer) ticks can walk (crawl, if you prefer) quite rapidly and are so compressed that I can't feel them between my fingers. There's also a LOT of misinformation in the popular literature (magazines and newspapers) and on-line. Our granddaughter actually had a physician grasp an embedded tick by its abdomen with a forceps and pull it out. That was about as wrong a way to remove a tick as you could find short of using a propane torch (doing what he did squeezes the contents of the tick's digestive system - including the spirochetes that carry Lime disease - into the host).

 

[Yellowboard]

So, the best way to go IMO, is a combination of physical barrier to prevent climbing up your legs (pants tucked inside socks) and a chemical treatment of some specific clothing items. However, nothing is foolproof so the third part of this approach is frequent visual inspections for the critters.

 

[Calson]

Picadin is as effective at repelling insects as DEET if the picaridin is a 15-20 percent solution. I use Sawyers as it is easy to find at at the right concentration. For chiggers with bare skin the Johnson & Johnson Skin So Soft product works very well.

As mentioned by others I buy a one quart 37% solution of permethrin on Amazon for $28 and us it to make up batches of solution. A 0.5% solution is made with 1 oz of the 37% solution diluted with 9 cups of water. For a 1.15% solution that will provide a treatment that will last a year and through at least 50 washings I use 2 oz. of the concentrated permethrin and 2 quarts of water. I use a wash tub with the solution to treat t-shirts and socks and a garden sprayer with solution to treat long sleeve shirts and long pants that I hang on a clothesline. It costs me less than 5 cents per piece of clothing that I treat.

I sought out this solution as many parts of the world have forms of malaria that are now hydroxychloroquine resistant and the alternative anti malarial drugs can have severe side effects including Mefloguine that can result in "acute anxiety, depression, restlessness, confusion, severe dizziness, hallucinations." Malaria is spreading north through the United States and so more important to protect oneself while traveling in the states or at home.

 

[Blake]

I second Steve P.'s recommendation for gaiters. While I don't live where ticks are super-abundant, gaiters also keep out any other biting insects, and more importantly for me, keep stickers from weeds getting in my socks when leaving the trail.
At least twice a year, or before any trip to the tropics, I spray all of my clothing with permethrin.