On the creek bank in my skivvies...Good Idea?

[str8jct]

I know it sounds bad, or good, depends on where your mind is, but I promise a serious question is coming.  I was 2.5hrs and 1 mile into an all day hog hunt in a wilderness area yesterday when I sat down and realized something was biting my wrist.  I pulled up the sleeve on my leafy jacket and saw about a dozen of those tiny 'seed' ticks.  I took the jacket off and discovered I had over 50 of them clear up to my shoulder.  I took my shirt off and found more.  I used duct tape and a knife to clean and scrape my arm.  I picked the shirt up to see if they were still on there but couldn't see them because of the color, this left me with about 15 more of them on my hand.  

This is where my predicament began.  I didn't know how to carry the shirt and jacket back to the truck without risking reinfestation plus I was not ready for my hunt to be over.  I was about 75yds from a spring fed wallow and used sticks to carry the shirt and jacket to the mud.  I coated the clothes in mud from the where the spring ran down the hill.  I hoped this would keep the ticks stuck on the clothes.  I was about 300yds from a creek so I went there next to was them out.  I built a fire on a dry gravel bar and set up a way to dry my shirt.  After the fire got going I stripped down to make sure I didn't have any more, which I didn't.  I got in the creek and washed off anyway and washed the mud outta my clothes.  I sat around for about 45min while the shirt and jacket dried.

My question is was this the best thing to do? Other than carrying around permehtrin or duranon is there a good way to avoid this.

Does smoke kill ticks?


 

[jhg]

I like how you handled the situation. Regardless of what you do next time, you showed some real creativity and woods-wise clear thinking.

Joshua

[sweeney3]

It was a heck of a lot better way to handle it than letting all those little turds get stuck good.  This summer has been the worst for them in my memory around here.  I miss Kansas.  I don't recall having them up there.  Maybe the winters get just a touch colder or something.  I dunno but I never got one in 5 years there.  Hundereds this summer here.

[bucksbuouy]

why are you so afraid of ticks? says the guy with lyme disease and spotted fever....

[m midd]

I missed this whole week of work because of tick fever. I am about to pull out of it.. but it was a bad deal...

[Looper]

Permanon on my clothes and 100% deet for me. I also use Deep Woods Off. I spray myself down just wearing my shorts, tee shirt and socks. I then put on my pants, boots, and whatever jacket I'm wearing and spray myself again. I make sure to get my shoulders and around my ankles real good.  

We've had them bad around here this year, too.

[FubarFred]

Cheney, where in SC are you? Here in the midlands,I'm in Leesville, they don't seem to be very bad. We have had a couple, but not near as many as at my house in MD.
Fred...

[landman]

I won't go into the woods until after the first frost.   Just ain't worth it.

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

That permrethrin spray is excellent stuff for summertime hog huntin. I buy it by the case and will use most of it over the course of a summer.   I'm sure I reapply it to my clothes more often than I need to but I enjoy watching ticks die when they walk across my britches.  

As far as smoke killing ticks, I don't think so.  It may keep em moving but the only sure way smoke will kill a tick is if theres a good fire with it!

[straitera]

Don't even like the word "tick"! Hate those nasty things. Going this week to Tractor Supply for the big bottle of permethrin & make my own solution. It was on another thread if you want to see how to do it. Pretty cheap that way.

[Doc Nock]

I've used the Permanone spray stuff for years... and friends get ticks, luckily (knock on wood-good reason to shoot wood bows, eh)I don't.

Dunno bout chiggers, but not ticks and I always spray my head cover, outer clothes, hang on the line to dry, then spray with earth cover scent and put in a tub lined with plastic bag.

I've watched a couple ticks crawl on my pant leg and go 4" and drop off stone dead.. Love it!!

[Jim Jackson]

Seed ticks are the worst, but if there is any saving grace at least they can't give you any disease.  Seed ticks are the nymph stage in the tick lifecycle and they itch like crazy but at least you are their first blood meal.

[Killdeer]

A basic soap and water wash is supposed to kill them. The tape is a good thing to do! On clothes and skin, it pulls them off (if they haven't started sipping yet) and immobilizes them.

I ran into a nest of larval ticks (six-leggers) this spring, and was fortunate to be fifteen minutes from my truck. I took off my shorts and sprayed them and me down with 100% DEET. I was desperate! Stuffed the shorts into a disposable plastic tub and put on the only spare pants I had. Thick German army wool pants from last hunting season. I was toasty! Thankfully, I got them on before the cop showed up...

I got chewed up, but not as badly as I would have if I had tried to drive home, spreading ticks throughout the cab of the truck. I left the shorts in that tub for a week, then washed them. I washed me as soon as I got home in the hottest water I could stand, with a castile soap containing tea tree oil. Insidious little rats, I hate them!

I gotta try treating my clothes with Permethrin.
Killdeer

[njloco]

We have ticks and chiggers in Jersey pretty bad, since using spray with permethrin I have never gotten bit by either. I only spray once before the season starts and it lasts through many washings. I usually wear the mesh with the three D leafy, and I always figured they could slip through the mesh, but they never do, I also wear shorts and a dark T-shirt under the 3-d leafy suit.

So I guess it does work, my wife just found something called purification essential oil, don't know how it smells yet but a few drops in a spray bottle is supposed to be enough to keep everything off of and away from you.

Almost forgot, mint leaves from a mint plant rubbed on you will keep everything off of you also, even black flies.

[JamesKerr]

I use a thermacell when hunting and don't get any type of bug bites.

[Thumper Dunker]

I new there was a reason im in nazifornia. We have them in the foot hills but not in the vally and not too many up high. I hate those blood suckers.

[Looper]

Originally posted by FubarFred:
Cheney, where in SC are you? Here in the midlands,I'm in Leesville, they don't seem to be very bad. We have had a couple, but not near as many as at my house in MD.
Fred...

I'm in northern Greenville County. It seems like we have pockets of them. There are some pine thickets by the house that are absolutely loaded with them. This summer, I walked through there in shorts and a tee shirt.  I pulled 10 off me. They weren't stuck to me, just crawling on me. I don't usually get them on me if I'm in more open woods, but you can't be too careful. My neighbor lost his wife to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever a few years ago.

When I was a kid, it was a nightly ritual to have tick inspection. Us kids would sit in front of the couch and my mom would go through our hair with a comb.

[Lone Ranger]

I bought Martins 10% permethrin yesterday and mixed up a .75% solution in a spray bottle this am. cost me 8 bucks for 8oz of the concentrate, and it should last for several years. spray down all clothes, boots, socks, hats, etc... and let em air dry. you do not need to re-apply for several washings. There is no smell, and to say it works is an understatement!


L.R.

[Ray Hammond]

A thermacell won't stop ticks!

[Spectre]

Originally posted by njloco:
 
Almost forgot, mint leaves from a mint plant rubbed on you will keep everything off of you also, even black flies.

I never thought of this! Thanks for the tip, I have a pretty large patch of mint in the yard, I'm gonna try this.