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Ticks, Ticks Ticks….they are everywhere.

No kidding - all the more reason to permethrin-treat boots, clothes, & gear, and to automatically check for ticks when you get undressed, regardless!
 
2Sloe said:
At least Lyme can be cured….that Lone Star Tick induced meat allergy would do me in. Can you imagine having to be a vegan?
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It's called the Alpha-gal allergy, and I got it when I was maybe 10 years old. They had just discovered it in Virginia around that time, and I was likely the first known case in Tennessee (got it around 2000, but wasn't diagnosed until 2005 or so). My symptoms were a really bad stomach ache 6-10 hours after eating beef, pork, or venison, followed by horrendously itchy hives all over my body. I'd take 50mg of Benadryl, and it would usually subside after an hour or so. The weirdest part is that it wasn't consistent AT ALL. I could eat mammal meat 30 straight times with no problem, then the 31st would blow me up. I had a reaction anywhere from once a month to a couple years between reactions, which made it really difficult to diagnose. What sucked is that the longer I would go between reactions, the worse the next one would be.

Once diagnosed, my allergist told me to cut out all mammal meat (fish and poultry are fine), but I just couldn't come to terms with that. I decided to keep eating mammal meat (pretty much daily); I just kept Benadryl and an Epipen nearby in case my throat closed up. I'm 31 now, and it's been nearly a decade since I've had an allergic reaction. Either I've "beaten" this thing, or it'll kill me the next time it hits. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
TNbowhunter said:
It's called the Alpha-gal allergy, and I got it when I was maybe 10 years old. They had just discovered it in Virginia around that time, and I was likely the first known case in Tennessee (got it around 2000, but wasn't diagnosed until 2005 or so). My symptoms were a really bad stomach ache 6-10 hours after eating beef, pork, or venison, followed by horrendously itchy hives all over my body. I'd take 50mg of Benadryl, and it would usually subside after an hour or so. The weirdest part is that it wasn't consistent AT ALL. I could eat mammal meat 30 straight times with no problem, then the 31st would blow me up. I had a reaction anywhere from once a month to a couple years between reactions, which made it really difficult to diagnose. What sucked is that the longer I would go between reactions, the worse the next one would be.

Once diagnosed, my allergist told me to cut out all mammal meat (fish and poultry are fine), but I just couldn't come to terms with that. I decided to keep eating mammal meat (pretty much daily); I just kept Benadryl and an Epipen nearby in case my throat closed up. I'm 31 now, and it's been nearly a decade since I've had an allergic reaction. Either I've "beaten" this thing, or it'll kill me the next time it hits. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I have read that in a lot of cases it usually goes away after a number of years and your case fits that profile. I don’t want it so now I’m swimming in permethrin Lol
 
When you spray your clothes, how long is active after drying? Instructions on bottle says "up to six weeks", some commercial available stuff claims up to 50 washes?
 
They say it’s effective for 4-6 weeks after treatment with the Sawyer Permethrin, but it depends on how the clothes are treated (heavily soiled? Lightly used? Exposed to heavy rain or dew? Multiple times? Etc.)

I usually retreat every 4 weeks, and I’ll retreat in half that time if I get the clothes soaked repeatedly over the course of a few wearings. (I play it safe to ensure the treated clothes & gear stay effective - it might be overkill but better safe than sorry for me - deer ticks are everywhere in my state.)
 
tmattson said:
When you spray your clothes, how long is active after drying? Instructions on bottle says "up to six weeks", some commercial available stuff claims up to 50 washes?
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As I mentioned above, I got the Alpha-gal allergy years ago, so I probably overdo it. I generally treat about once every couple weeks or after the third wash or so, whichever comes first. The stuff is relatively cheap and easy to apply the night before your hunt, so why not? That said, I’ve typically seen 6 weeks or 6-7 washes as the norm.
 
I've been fishing a lot this year and man oh man they've been terrible. I do everything as above, long clothes, boots, hat. Started spraying my clothes but before I did that I was finding at least one tick after each trip out. The last two nights I've found two of the smallest ones I can imagine finding on my left wrist. I don't know where the heck I got those two from but I'm starting to be paranoid of the dang things. Earlier today I was just feeling through my head and thought I had two tiny ones but it was just dry skin. I *knock on wood* never get them while hunting but this spring/summer has been awful while bank fishing.
 
I always joke with my son what whenever we go somewhere in the woods, he goes first. He's the only person I know that can regularly get a tick standing in the middle of a parking lot and if he goes first, the path is clear for me.

I also know it's purely perception but when I was a kid, I'd be low crawling through the high grass, walking deer trails and digging foxholes (had to guard the barn from the VC) and ticks/mosquitoes never were an issue.
 
MNFarmHunter said:
I always joke with my son what whenever we go somewhere in the woods, he goes first. He's the only person I know that can regularly get a tick standing in the middle of a parking lot and if he goes first, the path is clear for me.

I also know it's purely perception but when I was a kid, I'd be low crawling through the high grass, walking deer trails and digging foxholes (had to guard the barn from the VC) and ticks/mosquitoes never were an issue.
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My uncle and brother are the same way. They get ticks in the truck before we leave. I scout all summer short sleeves shorts and ankle high boots and if I get one or two a year that’s a lot. And usually there not even attached when I find them. My brother and uncle, like I said, if there’s a tick or poison ivy within 47 miles, there gonna get it.
 
I've mentioned this in some other threads, but here is something that's a mystery to me. I've owned property since 1985 (20 acres originally and expanded it to 31 as of now). It's our home and we spent a lot of time outside in the fields and woods. It's perfect tick habitat...mixture of grasses, heavy cover, and mature timber. I have a few acres of food plots and critters are on my property daily. I do a lot of habitat management, berry picking, etc and in the 36 years we've own this, we have NEVER, not once, had a single tick on us that came from working on our place, but if I venture off onto surrounding properties, bingo...ticks.
Deer that I shoot usually have multiple (or multiple dozens) of ticks on them and these same deer are constant visitors on my place. Why don't the deer, groundhogs, mice, etc, etc transport ticks onto my place?

Years ago, ticks were rare in this area and we never took any precautions. And I still rarely spray or worry about them when I'm working on my land and there just is never any ticks found on me, my wife, or any other humans or dogs.

I do however, take precautions when I venture into the surrounding area.
This is a mystery to me and I surly am not complaining, but why are ticks not present on my 31 acres of prime tick habitat?
 
Allegheny Tom said:
I've mentioned this in some other threads, but here is something that's a mystery to me. I've owned property since 1985 (20 acres originally and expanded it to 31 as of now). It's our home and we spent a lot of time outside in the fields and woods. It's perfect tick habitat...mixture of grasses, heavy cover, and mature timber. I have a few acres of food plots and critters are on my property daily. I do a lot of habitat management, berry picking, etc and in the 36 years we've own this, we have NEVER, not once, had a single tick on us that came from working on our place, but if I venture off onto surrounding properties, bingo...ticks.
Deer that I shoot usually have multiple (or multiple dozens) of ticks on them and these same deer are constant visitors on my place. Why don't the deer, groundhogs, mice, etc, etc transport ticks onto my place?

Years ago, ticks were rare in this area and we never took any precautions. And I still rarely spray or worry about them when I'm working on my land and there just is never any ticks found on me, my wife, or any other humans or dogs.

I do however, take precautions when I venture into the surrounding area.
This is a mystery to me and I surly am not complaining, but why are ticks not present on my 31 acres of prime tick habitat?
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If you figure it out, let me know so I can implement it on my property.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Got one yesterday just being at the pool. Was legit out of the pool for 5 mins. Walked through cut grass to get inside and had one crawling on my ankle. Not sure the grass was even ankle height so who the heck knows. Driving me crazy
 
hokiehunter373 said:
Got one yesterday just being at the pool. Was legit out of the pool for 5 mins. Walked through cut grass to get inside and had one crawling on my ankle. Not sure the grass was even ankle height so who the heck knows. Driving me crazy
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Did you walk under any cedar trees? They often drop down onto their targets from trees, especially cedars.
 
TNbowhunter said:
Did you walk under any cedar trees? They often drop down onto their targets from trees, especially cedars.
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0 cedars. Also, up until like a week ago I thought they did the same thing but read that it's unlikely. They generally get onto their prey by sitting on vegetation with their legs extended waiting for something to walk by so that they stick to whatever walks by.
 
What's weird to me is some bites will heal in a couple days and some last for weeks and weeks. Even having treated clothes and all other precautions I get them while it's hot outside. I think saturating the clothes with sweat make them not as affective. A waistline bite sometimes are completely gone in 3 or 4 days. The 1 I have now is going on 2 weeks. Maybe sometimes the needle nose of the tick breaks off in there and u get an infection?
 
Weldabeast said:
What's weird to me is some bites will heal in a couple days and some last for weeks and weeks. Even having treated clothes and all other precautions I get them while it's hot outside. I think saturating the clothes with sweat make them not as affective. A waistline bite sometimes are completely gone in 3 or 4 days. The 1 I have now is going on 2 weeks. Maybe sometimes the needle nose of the tick breaks off in there and u get an infection?
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That makes sense to me. Last bite I had, I found the tick had just dug into my bicep and about half of its body was submerged already but the exposed end was not engorged yet. Had to yank pretty good to get it out and I think the thing mostly stayed in tact but that took 2-3 weeks to heal.
 
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