@Silvio - Excellent advice above. I live in Connecticut where Lyme disease (carried by deer ticks) was first discovered. (In Old Lyme, CT) The tick population has exploded here as well this year.
We've had to take great precautions to prevent tick bites and Lyme disease in my home state for the last 40 years. Like others have said above, permethrin clothing treatment is by far the most effective way to keep ticks off you and your gear. It's no exaggeration that a tick will die after crawling across just an inch or two of treated fabric. Lemongrass & Cedar oil won't cut it in heavily tick infested areas - you really don't want to mess around with light duty repellents when you can treat clothing with a safe and highly effective repellent that acts as an insecticide if the tick doesn't drop off quickly enough (permethrin). The Sawyer brand of permethrin is premixed to the proper concentration, and one spray-down of your hunting clothes and gear lasts 4-6 weeks.
For those who aren't familiar with it, it comes in aerosol cans as well as trigger spray bottles. I find the aerosol cans easier to use, and they achieve a more uniform dampness on the fabric than the trigger spray bottles. I spray the
outside of my clothes a day or more ahead of when I'm going to need to wear them, and let them completely dry before I wear them. (I wear a medical face mask and gloves when I do the application.) Once the permethrin dries on the fabric, you're good to go. (You don't head out with clothes that are wet with permethrin.) One treatment is good for 4-6 weeks. In addition to clothing, I spray it on boots, packs, turkey vests, neck gaiter, gloves, hats, bino cases too - basically anything that ticks might latch onto while seeking a host.
Link to Sawyer Permethrin
There is another, even lower maintenance option. It's called Insect Shield, and it's a near-permanent permethrin treatment for your clothes. It is a proprietary process of tightly bonding the permethrin to clothing so that it can endure 70 washings and still retain its effectiveness. If you want the convenience of not having to reapply permethrin spray to your hunting clothes every 4-6 weeks, it's a great option. You can send in your own clothes for treatment, but they won't treat non-clothing items like backpacks.
Link to Insect Shield
@sojourner encouraged you to check out Elimitick clothing by Gamehide, and it's a great option if you want to purchase hunting clothes that have been pretreated with Insect Shield treatment at the factory. I have used the Gamehide Elimitick clothing and it's extremely effective - I've never gotten a tick on me when using it.
Link to Gamehide Elimitick Clothing
