Ticks and bugs?
- Thread starter Birdman
- Start date
can be.skeeters can be real bad . ticks not so much, just depends on where you are .but if your hunting spring bear they may not be to bad yet with the snow just coming off
my advise is hope for the best, plan for the worst.
JimP
Administrator
For ticks and other no-see-ums get some Permethrin and spray it on your clothing and let it dry. I used it over in Africa and didn't have anything crawling on me while another hunter who didn't had small ticks all over his body. You'll need some other bug spray with Deet for the skeeters but they might not be out yet.
You can get some at WalMart in the camping area. Here is a shot of what it looks like.
You can get some at WalMart in the camping area. Here is a shot of what it looks like.
Finsandtines
Very Active Member
Finsandtines
Very Active Member
IMO, hell yes. Ain't seen skeeters like the swamps and sloughs here anywhere I've ever been. Started using about 10 years ago and once the pad gets warm, they disappear. I have two and don't leave home without both!
Matthoek21
Veteran member
You can get some at WalMart in the camping area. Here is a shot of what it looks like.
Best stuff out there for ticks. It stinks, so that may not help when trying to control scent but trust me you will not get one single tick on you if you treat your clothes with this stuff. I was turkey hunting one time and I always treat my clothes. I saw a tick and picked it up and layed it on my pant leg that had been treated. The tick literally jumped off of my leg. I did not know a tick could jump, but he wanted nothing to do with that permetherin. Trust me it works.
As for Mosquitos, my dad has a thermacell and he also swears by it. The thermacell smells to. I've only used deet for Mosquitos. When I used to fish up slough creek or the Lamar valley in early summer I had to use Deet to keep them big Wyoming skeeters off me. 40% deet wasn't good enough either. Had to be 100%. But once again there is the scent factor. I have to admit those skeeters up in MT and WY are about as tough as anywhere. Remember, they had to endure that long winter...I would be mad and hungry to.
Finsandtines
Very Active Member
Wondered if another southern boy would jump in....it does give off a very slight odor but not even close to a deet product. I've never had the pleasure of a deer or hog wind the Thermacell that I know of. Maybe the wind was in my favor every time I shot one?
Matthoek21
Veteran member
Yea I've heard the same, that the thermacell either is scent free or seems to not bother some animals. Me personally I have no clue.
JimP
Administrator
On the Permethrin, while I was in Africa our group sat down to glass a open area. I didn't notice but at my feet was a very large ant colony and when I kicked a rock over it stirred them up. I had treated my socks and pants with Permethrin and when I looked down my boots were covered in ants but that was as far as they were going. They weren't even going up the boots past where my pants cuff was resting on them. That really sold me on the stuff. Another hunter went after his impala and when he returned he was covered in what we called pepper ticks, they were about the size of a grain of course ground pepper. He hadn't used any of it while I was in the same area the day before and didn't have a single tick on me.
You have to love stuff that works that well.
You have to love stuff that works that well.
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
Here in the west where the FS leases grazing rights to the cow operations, is where you have to be careful of ticks. Cows bring ticks & fleas. Was sitting in the shade of a big oak having lunch in an area where there were some cows and several ticks jumped off the oak and onto my hat.
RICMIC
Veteran member
I spend all summer in the tick and mosquito infested border country of the BWCA Wilderness and Canada's Quetico park. I started using the Permethrin spray a few years ago and swear by it. I treat all my outer clothing and especially my hammock netting, and I almost never need to use DEET. The folks that I guide think that the bugs just respect me too much to bite me, but I really know the truth. Beware of 100% DEET, and it will destroy fish line, plastic eyeglass lens, watch lens, GORTEX, etc. I find that 40% does the job, and just re-apply when necessary. A pump spray bottle is better than an aerosol, and I don't like the kind where you have to rub it in with your hands. Then it eventually ends up in my eyes, mouth, nether regions, etc.
Murdy
Active Member
Another vote for Permethrin and Thermacell. I use permethrin for spring turkey and never have ticks on me when others do. I've used the thermacell in a treestand before early season when the skeeters are real bad. It does smell a little but I figured I wouldn't have been out there long without something to keep them off me. They make an earth-scent, which smells like earth to me, but who knows if it does to something with a better sense of smell. I use it for fishing a lot when I don't want to use DEET. One thing with the thermacell, in my experience, it doesn't work as well if your moving around.
