Must be nice.... Down here ticks 365.
Evil things.I guess its time to treat a pair of jeans with permethrin. I was out in the woods for 2 hours max last night shooting my bow from a tree and when I got home I pulled two ticks out of my leg and later found another in the laundry basket I had dumped my clothes in the laundry room. This morning I get to work and feel something on the back on my neck, wipe at it and suddenly there's a tick running up my hand. Must have been on the truck seat all night. Now I got the heebie jeebies sitting here at work sure that I've got more crawling on me.
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There is a forum relating to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area where they often discuss permethrin. Those folks treat EVERYTHING. Tents, packs, etc,etc...you name it.I spray my seats, clothing, pack, gloves, hat, etc...… everything. Especially since I let Grace (my dog) ride up front when we go scouting. Folks no buck is worth taking the risk. You get busted due to smell and you live to hunt another day.... you get bed bound by a tick disease and you may never hunt again.
Sounds like the habitat is different on your land vs. the neighbor's. While they can technically be everywhere, they generally hang in certain types only. Open hardwoods are voids. They are all about grassy, weedy areas of waist high vegetation here in the south at least. I use permethrin, but not when tracking hardwoods.Several years ago I help a neighbor track a wounded deer for 3 hours in November. The temp was 37. During those 3 hours, I counted the ticks that I picked off myself...FIFTY EIGHT!
Something else I continue to find baffling....those ticks were within 400 yards of my 31 acre property. In the 34 years I've owned and worked my land, Ive NEVER picked a single tick off of me, my wife, any friends, or dogs that came from my property. The critters that inhabit the land surrounding mine travel to and fro on a daily basis. My property has prime tick habitat yet we've never had a tick on us from within our acreage. Why?
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If you saw my property, you would understand why I'm so bewildered about why I don't have ticks here. I have pretty much every type of cover. Everything from mowed lawns, to food plots, to feathered edges, to 7 foot switchgrass, to early succession, to mature timber. I have all of that and I get out into every corner of the place. I often crawl on my hands and knees thru the thickest of it in my never ending battle with a bunch of invasive weeds, vines, and shrubs. I'm telling ya man...zero ticks in over 30 years on this place. Yet, healthy populations exist on the surrounding properties and on the countless critters that frequent the entire area.Sounds like the habitat is different on your land vs. the neighbor's. While they can technically be everywhere, they generally hang in certain types only. Open hardwoods are voids. They are all about grassy, weedy areas of waist high vegetation here in the south at least. I use permethrin, but not when tracking hardwoods.
John H.
I'm pretty sure that if deer would be spooked by any smell of permethrin (and I can't smell fully dried permethrin), then they are already smelling the more alarming odor of you.I spray my scent lok and all camo with Sawyers. With out it I come out covered in ticks. With it , not one that I have noticed in 2 seasons of deer and turkey since using Sawyers. Tick prevention trumps getting winded for me.
I contacted Scentlok and was told using Sawyers or another brand of Permethrin is totally fine. They suggested spraying the garment and once dry to wash once with unscented detergent to reduce residual odor. Then lay flat to dry (avoids clumping up of the carbon) and reactivate in the dryer. Ticks be damned!
I just bought water based concentrate from Amazon a week ago. Much less initial scent than Sawyers plus for the same price it will make several gallons. My plan is to wear cheap compression base layers, around 25$ from Amazon and use the permethrin on those and have them under the scentlok. The ticks and chiggers are ruthless here in Arkansas.