Ticks... Overreaction?

[ChrisAU]

Am I ignorant or is this not a big deal in the southeast? I’ve had a few when I was young get on me but in 15 years as an adult hunter it’s never been something I even think about and never hear about. That’s with 100-150 days a year in the woods.

 

[BRTreedogs]

 

[bgiac49]

I agree with the pemethrin treatment, deet if necessary. But I have still found some. Look yourself over often. Anytime I shed a top layer I shed them all and do a quick once over and I'm cautious where I place clothes, where I sit. I avoid brush, tall grass and such.

 

[Coldtrail]

Since my last post on this topic I found one of the little bastards dug in on my arm, 10 days later I fortunately got the bullseye rash this time so I knew to get to the Dr, now I'm on day 4 of antibiotics & seem to be winning the battle. I have a bullseye the size of a clay pigeon on my arm, had a couple nights I felt like I was getting the flu, I wake up achey, but nothing too serious so far. Oh yeah...the Lyme's test was negative too, don't put too much faith in those, get on the antibiotics right away.

 

[V-TRAIN]

If I go and do work on the farms not hunting, I always spray my pants down with deet before I put them on. I also always wear gaiters (low non waterproof) when working and spray them off also. I never get ticks or chiggers.

When I go hunting, I use Permethrin, I just get chiggers from time to time with that and have never trusted it as well as bug spray.


Lyme, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and also Lone Star Ticks, are 3 things you do not want. I had never heard of Lone Star until 3 years ago, but it is not something I would want either. It basically causes you to have an allergic reaction anytime you eat red meat. There is no cure, and it can last 3 to 5 years plus. Along with ticks, chiggers suck, literally.

 

[pirogue]

So it appears, the thread title is correct. Most people freak out or overreact. On the other hand, people that grew up in parts of the country, where, dealing with them is part of life, just roll eyes and don’t bother to post.

 

[Mr. Oats]

Commenting to save for later

 

[SoDaky]

Permethrin and more.Demand a test if possible.My wife has suffered for decades due to improper diagnosis.Lost my best hunting partner.

 

[sneaky]

Along with Permethrin I'm trying out Rhino skin this year (think super tight long johns). Apparently they work well in preventing ticks and chiggers from getting on you.

Panty hose does the same thing lol

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[sneaky]

If they ever come out with a permethrin chewable... I'll be first in line

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[22lr]

I hate ticks, but never let it stop me. Growing up in Indiana, was always sure to find 1 or 2 after a good day tromping around in the woods. Just check yourself after being the woods and make sure to go through your hair good. I had a few pretty nasty ones that had been sucking my scalp dry and it took me a few days to realize they were there. The worse was I had a golden retriever growing up, and he loved tall grass and snooping around... so ya, he was always covered after a day in the field and it was impossible to find them all. Never forget the tick and flea drops and collars for your dog.

 

[Randall]

Yank em and burn em.

If they're big ones. You really shouldnt be getting bit by big ticks very often if youre paying attention to your spidey sense. You can feel them crawl if you pay attention. The little seed ticks are where that fails though.

I've been bitten by literally tens of thousands of ticks. No exaggeration. Deer ticks, Lone Star's, I recognize (if cant name) all of them. Seed ticks take probably 95% of that credit. Big Lone Star's bite hard and hold on like none other. Big ticks are loveable though compared to the tiniest ones. Take off your boots and there's a 2" dark ring of dirt around your ankle at your sock line from all day outside. Oh wait, thats thousands of pin prick sized ticks. So many you could never dream of yanking all of them. So small you cant grab them even if you wanted to. Scratch them buggers out. You'll be scratching for at least another week so get used to it. Waking yourself in the middle of the night from subconsciously scratching yourself so hard...

Really, where I live and in areas that are as bad as I'm talking about I've built a fire before with tall flames and half jump, half singe my whole body (head excluded obviously) to burn the seed ticks before they get a chance to dig in. Once they dig in though, youre done. Get back to scratching.

I wear light solid colored pants in summer to aid in seeing the little ones crawling and a lighter to burn them all. Moving through brush I also stop every two minutes or so and give a quick lower leg inspection. If I see any, go at it with the lighter and carry on. Easily hundreds or more a day. It's a shame really, it takes a lot of the fun out of summer, but I just figure thats the price of admission.

I dont think most people can appreciate what a "bad" amount of ticks really is.

 

[Fisherhahn]

Saw a guy in a fb group that I’m in that was in a trial for a Lyme disease vaccine. I’m not sure of the results. I use permitherine and make my own tick-bombs to spread around my property. I save all the stuffing from the toys my dog rips up and I save all a bunch of pepper towel and tp cardboard rolls. I soak the stuffing with permitherine and when dry I stuff into the rolls. Then I just walk my property and drop them around. The stuffing gets used by mice to make nests and ends up killing the ticks they’d be carrying. I’ve done it two years now and have only seen one tick this year when I’d usually see 20+on me by now. I drop most of them near trails and routes I’d walk.

 

[RosinBag]

In the early to mid 90’s there was a Lyme disease vaccine of sorts. Three shots; Day 1 first shot, A month later second shot and 6 months after that a third shot. My insurance even paid for it.

 

[Terrapin]

My mom isn’t afraid of anything, especially ticks. Spent her 50s and 60s in nasty third world countries. She spent quarantine out bird watching... felt sick and thought she had Corona Virus. Turns out it was a tick. Three days in the ICU.


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[jmez]

I don't worry about them. If I find one I pull it off and kill it.

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[Marbles]

I grew up in the Arkansas Ozarks. I have probably had over 200 ticks on me at one time (not biting, just crawling) and it was common to pull double digits numbers of them off each night (that had started taking a drink). Pluck'em, squish'em between your thumb nails, and move on. Spraying deet at clothing openings helps a lot. Getting a partner to help check for them at night also helps. Otherwise, just live with the risk.

Of course some parts of the country are higher risk for transmission than others.

Like others have said, avoid lighters, alcohol, Etc. as removal methods. Fine tweezers and getting them early is best.

Personally, I think eating spicy food helps as I normally don't get as many ticks and chiggers as those I go out with.

 

[BackyardChemist]

Anyone know if it's safe to use permethrin on next to skin base layers made from merino wool? Will it break down the fabric over time or is it negligible? Also will sweat build up cause the pemethrin to leach into your skin?

 

[sandhillhunter]

First of all, I agree that preventing the ticks from getting on to you is the best way to prevent getting Lyme’s Disease. I think Permethrin is effective for about seven washes. Once it dries I don’t think there is a concern with sweating. I also use DEET on my skin. I think it is a good idea to leave clothing outside but not in a container. I think the tick will likely crawl away when it doesn’t have something to feed on.

When I was in College I did research in an infectious disease lab and I would go to the field to collect ticks. The professor I worked with always said to take as hot of a shower as you can stand as soon as you get out of the field. I don’t think this helps if the tick is already embedded though.

It helps to know a little bit about a life cycle of a tick to understand your risk of contracting Lyme’s disease. There is no vertical transmission of Lymes so a tick does not hatch carrying the disease. A deer tick hatches and is called a larvae. At this point it has six legs and can not have Lymes because it need a blood meal from an infected animal to carry the disease. So if the tick has six legs, you are safe. Once it gets its first blood meal it molts and becomes a nymph. After getting another blood meal it molts again and becomes an adult. I believe that you are at higher risk from getting Lymes from an adult because it has two opportunities to become infected vs one from a nymph. You stayed that you think the ticks are worse in the spring but you are actually at highest risk of contracting lymes in the summer. I will post the link to the CDC below.

As far as risk of getting Lyme’s Disease after a tick attaches, a tick must be attached for 36-48 hours before it spreads the disease. So if the OP knows for sure that he got the tick about 24 hours prior, he was at no risk of getting the disease and antibiotics were not indicated. The scary think is you might not know exactly when the tick attached so it is just safer to take the Doxy.

On a side note, remove the tick with a tweezers Or specialized tool by gripping at the head and pulling backwards. Please don’t try all of these different “remedies” or methods to remove the tick like a lighter. Those ways might actually inCrease your risk of getting disease because the tick may regurgitate into you.

Lyme Disease Charts and Figures: Historical Data | Lyme Disease | CDC

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

www.cdc.gov

Thank you for this good information!


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[sandhillhunter]

This! Take a shower when you get home and pluck them off. You will be fine as it takes 24-48 hours to transmit the bacteria. Unfortunately there are some other “bugs” that you can get as soon as they bite (anaplasmosis, babesiosis)...but you would know if you got sick from this. And it’s ALL treatable! You can also look at the Lyme distribution map...it’s really not as widespread as you might think. And there is literally no such thing as as chronic Lyme disease to be afraid of. It is literally a made up disease that sketchy medical professionals have perpetuated in order to take advantage of people. Try to find it in a medical textbook and you will not. What you will find is that Lyme is caused by a whimpy bacteria that dies easily from a variety of antibiotics...ok getting off my soap box lol.

And this...

Good info. Lots of misdiagnosis surrounding the whole chronic Lyme disease theory.

And for the dog owners out there- no need to mess with collars, sprays, dips, topical spot-on products etc for your dogs anymore.

The new flurolaner oral chewable medications for dogs (Nexgard, Simparica, Bravecto, etc) are highly effective for flea and tick control.

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