Tics not Tik Toc

[VikingsGuy]

This thread was specifically about Montana.

OP didn't limit to MT, and lots of non-MT posters.

I get hundreds of our ticks on me every year, and as long as I keep alert and do regular checks I never have bites.

Doesn't change my post a bit - if no Lymes in MT, then lucky you - but was responding for folks who took your first post to be a health critique of permethrin treated clothes in general.

 

[MtsPSU]

I use Sawyer's aerosol tick spray found at Walmart or other stores to treat all of my cloths. Let dry and you're good to go for a month or more. Central PA is loaded with ticks no matter if we have a harsh or mild winter. Also, I use Adam's PLUS flea & tick collars on my labs which have been great to date--I had been using Seresto but the Adams are a fraction of the cost and have been working well. Of note, I change the collars every 6 months.

Be sure to call a doc if you have an attached tick and they will likely prescribe 2-3 days of antibiotics (doxycycline) as a proactive measure.

Stay alert for any redness, itchy or suspect issues with your skin.

 

[crock239]

OP didn't limit to MT, and lots of non-MT posters.



Doesn't change my post a bit - if no Lymes in MT, then lucky you - but was responding for folks who took your first post to be a health critique of permethrin treated clothes in general.

Yeah, a quick search on tick-borne illness maps will tell you that if you live in upper Midwest (especially MN or WI) or in the northeast you'd be wise to get on board with a major tick prevention program.

Here's a Lyme disease map (doesn't work well for me on mobile, but does on PC)

Lyme Disease Map | Lyme Disease | CDC

Information on Lyme disease. Provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

www.cdc.gov

 

[Ben Nicholson]

This thread was specifically about Montana. I get hundreds of our ticks on me every year, and as long as I keep alert and do regular checks I never have bites.

When I got Lyme disease last year I never found a tick on me, and never had a bullseye rash, I had no idea I had been bitten. Deer ticks are tiny, pretty easy to miss with a tick check. I'm telling you I've never been so sick in my life.

 

[Deleted member 48080]

When I got Lyme disease last year I never found a tick on me, and never had a bullseye rash, I had no idea I had been bitten. Deer ticks are tiny, pretty easy to miss with a tick check. I'm telling you I've never been so sick in my life.

It sounds truly terrible, and if I lived in deer tick country I'd probably change my tune.

I'm very thankful ours are so big and easy to spot.

 

[howl]

The issue with insect repellents is you have to use them correctly to be effective. Picaridin works IF you do right. Doesn't do much for mosquitoes, though. I think it's derived from black pepper or something that doesn't alarm people.

Another means which usually doesn't alarm people is apple cider vinegar (ACV). If you consume something like ACV daily to affect body chemistry to make yourself unpalatable, then the pests don't eat on you. I have a son who tries to break his mother's grocery budget buying pickles. Doesn't get ticks nor redbugs.

My grandfather wasn't much on bathing. He hardly ever got bit by anything. We grandsons would spend the money he paid us for working on his timber crew for luxuries like bug dope to get relief from the redbugs. The only time I recall him complaining was when he worked on a Sunday. He took a bath Saturday night to get ready for church. Wound up working instead. Said getting a few bites was punishment for not going to church.

So if you don't like bug spray, stop bathing, and swallow a capful of ACV everyday. And eat a clove of garlic for breakfast. No worries on ticks then. You may have a problem with flies collecting on your backside but you won't get a tick!

 

[Ben Lamb]

So if you don't like bug spray, stop bathing, and swallow a capful of ACV everyday. And eat a clove of garlic for breakfast. No worries on ticks then. You may have a problem with flies collecting on your backside but you won't get a tick!

You are either the most married man on the planet or the most single. Not sure which one it is, but it's brilliant.

 

[PaulRevere]

Permethrin scares the shit out of me. I'd much rather take my chances with the ticks.

I agree. Back of the neck/hair checks while in the woods. Burn em as we see em. Strip down at the truck at the end of the day and do a good check. Clothes and cracks. probably had 15-20 on my outer layers/in my hair during the day. Only ended up bringing one home.

 

[44hunter45]

+1 Sawyers Permethrin

Hang your clothes out on the clothesline and spray them down. Let them dry.

Sawyers spray is .5% solution.

This article from NPS says solutions less than 1% are unlikely to cause an issue with your cats.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/11/627843581/if-you-spray-your-clothes-with-permethrin-be-careful-around-the-cat

 

[atlasbranch]

new to hunting but done a LOT of hiking off trail the biggest thing for me that helps is to be careful where I'm moving and try to avoid contact with plants other than on my feet I get 1 on me once in a while but never too many and just check myself when I get home it's no big deal even if they bite me I find them pretty quick after they do. no experience personally with using chemical deterrents I feel like just checking my body when I get home is a reasonable price to pay for the time I spent out there, but I would be interested to look more into dietary changes that might reduce the appeal of my flesh to laboratory inoculated biter bugs.

 

[CMF]

Permethrin on clothes
extra deet bug spray when its warm an they're bad
check for them periodically
Put laundry straight into washing machine when you get home or trash bag it in the field or at home if you're not washing right away.

 

[D4570]

Treat your clothes with permethrin!
I have had Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
I take everything I use for hunting ane hang them on the line and spray it all leave it out over night. I have never had an issue, it will last through the tick season.
Yes, they are thick here in MT, even out in the prairie grass.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Permethrin scares the shit out of me. I'd much rather take my chances with the ticks.

After experiencing the effects of Lymes for the past 12 years my wife couldn’t
disagree more with this sentiment. It’s been life altering for our entire family and not in a good way.

Permithrin is the best repellent I have found.

 

[Gerald Martin]

This thread was specifically about Montana. I get hundreds of our ticks on me every year, and as long as I keep alert and do regular checks I never have bites.

To my knowledge my wife has only been bitten once. It was a Montana wood tick and was only attached for a few hours. It didn’t even get engorged.

 

[Jamen]

Probably the worst experience in my life with ticks. I was sweeping for leafy spurge beetles. I looked down and i must have walked through a nest or something. My jeans were almost all brown. I had to have hundreds crawling up my pant legs. I ran up the hill to the mowed grass took my pants off and shook them out. The ticks went flying everywhere. I still get creeped out to this day thinking about that. I now soak my clothes in permithrin.

 

[Gerald Martin]

It’s difficult for me not to jump on my soapbox whenever this topic comes up but the belief that only wood ticks carry Lymes and that it’s confined to the Midwest and East is completely false.

The majority of cases originate from deer tick bites in the East and Midwest. However, any insect that feeds on the blood of infected vectors and then bites you can transmit the bacteria and disease to you.

The main reason Lymes affects my wife so much is that it went undiagnosed and treated for too long because local doctors didn’t believe it was possible for her to have Lymes, even though she had the classic bullseye rash and accompanying symptoms and we had kept the wood tick that bit her.

After more than a year and a half without proper treatment the bacteria spread throughout her body into joints and spinal fluid and became impossible to completely eradicate it. If she had been given proper antibiotics while it was still limited to her bloodstream it could have been wiped out fairly quickly.

 

[thomas89]

After more than a year and a half without proper treatment the bacteria spread throughout her body into joints and spinal fluid and became impossible to completely eradicate it. If she had been given proper antibiotics while it was still limited to her bloodstream it could have been wiped out fairly quickly.

I have no clue why it seems like doctors are so reluctant to throw a course of antibiotics at potential Lymes cases.

Having friends with chronic Lymes, you’re absolutely right, it’s no joke.

Getting laughed at in the parking lot for stripping is the least of your concerns when dealing with tick borne illnesses.



Tick from mid-November in Wisconsin this past deer season.

 

[Deleted member 48080]

For whatever it's worth, I was only speaking to the size of the ticks out west being easier to spot and remove, not what pathogens or diseases they can spread.

There's decent evidence out there that permethrin exposure may be linked to infertility. I have suspicion that this may have happened to me.

Everyone needs to weigh their own risks.

 

[VikingsGuy]

For whatever it's worth, I was only speaking to the size of the ticks out west being easier to spot and remove, not what pathogens or diseases they can spread.

There's decent evidence out there that permethrin exposure may be linked to infertility. I have suspicion that this may have happened to me.

Everyone needs to weigh their own risks.

Please provide direction to "decent evidence"

 

[Ben Lamb]

There's decent evidence out there that permethrin exposure may be linked to infertility.

I'm 51 years old. This isn't a deterrent for my age class.