Ticks - Blacktail in CA and PNW

[bowhiker88]

Few questions and inevitable admission of my lack of preparation/experience.

Ticks are abundant in the areas I hike regularly, through out North Bay/Headlands and Mt Tam area, so much so that I almost don't hike with my dog since he will likely have them crawling on him until early morning the following day. When they bite they die but until that happens if I don't grab them they're crawling all around.

How do hunters deal with ticks?
Pre hunt preparation to gear and what do you bring?
Mid/hunt management of ticks on you gear or clothing, etc?

I assume there is a spray or something to keep them away but I would be shocked if anything off the shelf really works without soaking your gear.

If anyone has a concoction they've found to work to keep the ticks off that would be great to know.

And, if anyone knows, what are high tick risk and low tick risk types of terrain?

Feel free to tell me to kick rocks... Probably am overthinking this and a simple google search would have sufficed

Thank you in advance.

 

[BzoneBryan]

Permitherin is effective and less toxic than DEET. It does require preparation ahead of time. I find the most ticks in grasslands, but anywhere deer frequent is likely to have higher concentrations.

 

[kherbstreit1775]

I second everything Bzone said above. Permethrin is your friend. Also helps to wear gaiters so they can't really crawl into your pant legs. Tall grasses are where I find them the most

 

[Lou (Louis)]

They can't die as soon as they bite, or they wouldn't balloon up with blood. Am I missing something?

 

[CHAD PEZZLE]

They can't die as soon as they bite, or they wouldn't balloon up with blood. Am I missing something?

I'm assuming his dog has some sort of flea and tick treatment. Once they bite the dog they eventually die.

 

[thedutchtouch]

Permethrin treat all your clothes, weer gaiters/pants and long sleeve shirt ideally tucked in to waist band, and do a nightly full body check. If that fails and you find one embedded/engorged, get to a Dr and get a prescription for doxy, even if you don't have the red Lyme ring.

 

[Lou (Louis)]

I'm assuming his dog has some sort of flea and tick treatment. Once they bite the dog they eventually die.

Of course! Thank you for the explanation.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Permethrin but also give them no entry point. Gaiters over pant legs over boots. Shirt tucked into pants.

You get the idea.

No experience with stuff like Rynoskin but it appears to be an option (head to toe).

 

[DenimChicken]

Permethrin works but requires a healthy soaking of all your clothes at semi-regular intervals. I did it consistently after a few tick bites but I’m not convinced it’s the healthiest thing ever so I have stopped doing it.

 

[PVHunter]

I assume that anything in coastal California off trail is infested with ticks by this point in the year, especially after a wet winter like we've just had. Treat your gear as others have said. I try to keep as much of my body covered as I can, regardless of how hot the weather might be. I'd rather sweat than give them easy entry (long sleeves, lightweight gloves, etc.). The only "mid-hunt management" I perform is a thorough going over from head to toe at day's end. I only had one embed last year and that felt like a win.

 

[Maki35]

+1 Permethrin

I spray permethrin on my hunting and hiking clothes & boots the night before. Do not spray Permethrin on your body/skin. I use "off" spray on my exposed skin.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I know CA has some super early blacktail seasons, but depending on weapon choice in the PNW(I am assuming you’re referring to western Oregon and Washington) most seasons are late enough that ticks don’t seem to be a problem. For me spring and summer are tick season, but when fall rolls around I never seem to have any issues


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[bowhiker88]

Appreciate the responses

 

[CNewell46]

Killed a few blacktails in Washington. Only have seen one with ticks. Hunted west side and east side of Washington and never have had a tick on me. Wear gaiters and check yourself at the end of the day

 

[CBFire343]

The way I dealt with ticks was to start hunting higher elevations were there are way less of them.

 

[snowtoy83]

I’m in southern Oregon, and ticks are usually only an issue for us during spring bear season. By the fall seasons I don’t worry about them much. Treat your pants with permethrin at the beginning of the season and you will be fine.

 

[Erict]

Ticks are a given in many places I hunt here in the East, and so is Lyme Disease. Regardless of precautions, I know that post-hunt tick checks are necessary, and for days thereafter. I found two of these embedded a day after working in the brush. Both magically appeared, one on my forearm and one on my thigh. These are nymphs, the smallest, and if you're fat or hairy you might have trouble finding them before they get engorged.

Assume you will get ticks, but use:
1. Permethrin for clothes
2. Deet for skin
3. A handheld mirror to see remote places on your body
4. A "Tick-key" for engorged larger ticks, and/or,
5. The small, pointed end tweezers to grasp tiny ticks

This was one of the embedded nymphs I pulled off:

 

[DenimChicken]

I got all of my ticks and my Lyme disease scare on the east coast. Seen plenty out west but never had any imbedded, and lower risk of Lyme.

 

[N9Line]

If you're on the eastern sierras, your deer is most likely to have ticks..

I genuinely believe you can avoid a majority of ticks by the way you walk.
Don't drag your feet, and avoid deep bushy grass. I've trampled across a meadow with thigh-high grass and didn't have a single tick on me, but my wife on the other hand.. had 4.

 

[BoltActionBrotherhood]

Honestly Sikas new equinox guard pant with the built in tick gaitors and insect guard in the fabric has always kept ticks off me sense I got them. The one day I didn’t where them went to the same place I normally go and had 15 ticks on me and one ended up biting me