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Just pulled the third one out of my skin in a week. All from my backyard. This damn rain has to stop so I can nuke the backyard them watch every living bug die a slow painful death!!!!
Won't lie between turkey hunting, scouting, deer hunting and other shenanigans in the woods (Maine and Mass.) I probably picked off well over 150 ticks over the last year. For some reason I always think, "I'll never get lyme", but I'm starting to be more practical. Need to do something before I regret it...
Lyme x5 Babesiosis x1
5 ticks embedded this weekend and a quick cycle of doxycycline
been in the woods twice for 5 min each time to check a cam for turkeys and picked several off my pants... unbelieveable.
Not sure if you all have been doing this... I have a set of clothes that has become my fishing/scouting clothes. A trusty old set of EMS hiking pants and shirt - drab colors and not hot, heck, I scouted some with them last summer when it was like 90. I just keep them nicely drenched in Sawyers permithrin and rarely have a tick on me. Rarely, as in, while wearing my treated clothes, I have not had one on me in a couple years.
Also, dont forget to treat the snot out of your turkey gear this week.
I do exactly like Will said. Separate clothes sprayed with permithrin. Same results. Not made for skin contact because of it being a possible carcinogen.
Yes will! I do the same thing whenever I'm going for a longer trip. For shorter runs around the property I try to remember to spray around the edges of clothes. Already had one on me this year, otherwise been doing pretty good. Had a few run ins with lyme before though. Thankfully nothing a month on doxy couldn't fix.
all of my turkey clothes are sprayed down and ready to go. I won't spend any time in turkey woods hunting w/out it. I was just shocked that I had them on me so quickly when i just walked a path in and out in less than 5 minutes that was wide open.
This is the worst spring for ticks that I can remember in a very long time. Having the yard nuked on Friday. Hate to do it but this is just ridiculous.
Permethrin. Use it. I would rather have permethrin on my clothes than ticks on me.
Passthrough you nailed it man. I can manage the risk of the permethrin... A tick with Powassan or Lyme or what not. That can be a life time of hurt.
I almost forgot though... I'm convinced rubber boots are a key factor as well. I spray them to be safe... but man, it sure seems guys I know that wear rubber boots have fewer ticks get on them. Oddly that includes when I turkey/deer hunt in my leafy suit. In that case, I'm generally wearing normal pants under and a normal shirt/jacket under the upper... Even with essentially mesh over me, well sprayed, I do not get ticks on me.
Just cut the lawn today and I am going to spray the yard with a dose of permithrin and water tomorrow morning. You would be surprised how much it reduces the bug population!!! There is a dosage chart on the instructions for keeping animals safe. “ Death from above “ to all who are below me and the pump sprayer !!!! Lol
Picked up my bug juice this morning 13 bucks and it should last me through the end of June !!!! Going to cut the lawn when I get home and spray. The clock is ticking you blood sucking beasties!!!!
Just re-loaded my tick death suits and vest for Monday.
For your yard look into Talstar-pro.
Permethrin! Glad my buddy turned me on to it. 31 tick bites over 2 seasons. Had a bad incident last fall, lesson learned from shared info! Doxy hates me
yup. went for a trail run last wednesday and pulled 7 of the bloodsuckers off me (none embedded). forgot I hadn't treated my running gear yet this year. picked up more permethrin this weekend.
Go Bananas in wareham has the big spray bottles of Permethrin
I had a couple of questions for our knowledgeable panel on this subject, since my yard seems to me infested! One, my wife just pulled a tick of my back, couldn't have been on me more than an hour, and he came off whole, with very little effort? Doctor, antibiotics, or I should be fine, no? Second, DFA, where do you get your bug juice? I really wanted to play it by ear and see how bad the yard was considering we have a 5 year old running around , but now I'm in full nuke the little Fer's mode!
Eastie. No problem at all. The condition (bacterial ) requires at least 36 - 48 hours to begin. And even after that , unless you develop symptoms there is no issue. However , one can take two pills of doxy in the early stages to ward off the development of Lyme even after the tick has feasted and enlarged .
Your safe , no worries.
Eastie I get mine at a local hardware store. Sawyers permethrin is the stuff. I mix it 10 parts water to 1 part bug juice. Put it in a pump sprayer and spray the yard down with it it will last for about 4-6 weeks and then reapply
Never was a spray bug crap on me guy. But after being bit 3 times and imbedded ripping their bodies off with the heads still burried in me guy i decided to try sawyers .The stuff is unbelievable. Did a ton of brush bustin this year and since spraying my hunting clothes i have not had even one of the little buggers on Me.
went fly fishing at west hill dam last weekend,, wore my waders the whole time and still got a tiny deer tick stuck to my neck that night!! already pulled 4 off me so finding other things to do this spring and summer.. in my world where I usually don't have much planning time its always last minute on hitting the woods so I cannot count on having treated clothes on every time. another hobby is metal detecting and even the mowed ball fields are infested so I don't give the kids crap for not being in the parks and ball fields anymore..
Eastie, get a few of these. One in the car/truck, one in the house, maybe a spare with your wife's car/truck or just in case you lose one. Or in your hunting/scouting pack. The "trick" to them is the v shape letting you pull the little bastards out without pinching the abdomen as often happens with tweezers - thus squishing whatever is in there onto you. We have used them to pull nymphal deer ticks up to dog ticks with no trouble.
Pi's got the hours and all down. That said, some tick borne illnesses require a nibble and that's it. So, it's almost always worth at least a call to check with your medical provider to be sure they feel good with a given course of action. It's very common to prophylacticaly treat folks if they get bit for example. The finer details of that should be discussed with your provider.
I'm mostly an organic earth happy birkenstock wearing gentleman hippy... But when it comes to ticks, nuke the frigging things.
Oh, and consider getting chickens, apparently they eat a lot of the little jerks. Regrettably hawks eat a lot of chickens, as do foxes, yotes, bobcats, weasels, fishers, coons etc etc... So while this may work, it has it's limits :)
Thanks so much guys, I appreciate it! Will we were considering chickens, possibly a project for next year. Until then, let the nuking begin! Lol