[WinkingTiger]

so I was in the woods hunting all weekend. I was at work yesterday and I sat down on the toilet bowl and I saw a black dot on my inner thigh. I looked closer and it was a BIG A** TICK. I got a little freaked out so I tried to pull him out right away with my fingers. His mouthparts were in me good as I had to pull REAL HARD to get him out of there.

Some of his mouthparts are still in me and I have a small bulls-eye rash in the area.

My sister has lyme disease and I don't want to get it. What is the best way to prevent ticks while hunting?

I bought a can of OFF bugg repellent but I was concerned that the deer would smell it when I'm in the woods.

any thoughts?

[trueblue1776]

I don't have insurance anymore, so I've got to be real careful of Lyme disease also. I usually strip down as soon as I get back to my truck and put on new clothes.

You better get that bullseye checked. next time don't pull it out! Light a match, blow it out and put the still hot match head on the tick, he will let go and walk out of you.

[Gunz72]

do your best to tuck your pants in your boots wear skeeter netting over you head or a boonie hat.

[Loyalist Dave]

:what: DON'T DO THAT!! :what:

Remove ticks with tweezers, by grasping the tick where it imbeds the skin. This is the only sound method to remove a tick.

The match method, or the vaseline/grease method (suffocates the tick), usually causes the insect to puke back a tiny bit into you before they back out or die. Not only do you run the risk of Lyme Disease, you run the risk of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, as well as other nasties. Also, don't crush the tick between your fingers, as you then have just placed any infection you avoided on your finger tips.

Have the rash checked, as it probably wasn't Lyme if it was as you say a big A**ed tick, but could be another infection. Lyme is transmitted by the teeny tiny deer tick, and usually takes from 24-36 hours for infection. So if you check in the morning and the night, about twelve hours apart, you should find the ticks before you have problems.

My diet contains lots of B-Vitamins, Garlic, and vinegar (energy drinks, salad dressings, and pickles). I use apple cider vinegar for the salad dressings, and also take a dose of cider vinegar prior to going into the woods. Seems I don't taste too good to skeeters and ticks. Haven't had a mosquito bite in several years, and only one tick so far this year.

LD

[target1911]

Yes you need to get that checked out now. That bullseye is usually one of the first signs of Lyme. HOWEVER... I am living proof that you dont always get the bullseye. I to have lyme and it FREAKIN SUX. If the tick is carrying lyme, once it bites you, you too have it. PEOPLE, you should use repellant AND do everything else to prevent tick bites.

If you end up with odd symptoms that maybe the doctors cant even figure out, GET CHECKED for Lyme. Two of the symptoms I have are commonly mistaken for arthritis and goute. If you are diagnosed with either of these it would be smart to get tested for Lyme just to be safe.

I faught this for 8 months before I was tested. I can only pray that was soon enough to beat it. One Dr told me it was Gout, another said an allergic reation.
One more said Lupus. I was at the Dr office and in the ERs every couple of weeks for 3 months before I finally convinced one to test me for Lyme. I then took 28 days of meds. I got better. That is untill about 3 weeks ago. The symptoms have come back and I gotta go back to the Dr for more meds.

It would be worth everyones time to Google LYME. But understand that the symptoms are not limited to what is on the web sites.

[Kingcreek]

Dave is correct. The deer tick is the carrier of Lyme and is about the size of a sesame seed and not all deer ticks carry LD. The "bullseye" rash of LD will usually spread and may get quite large. If your rash is just localized inflamation it will probably not get bigger than a quarter and go away in a few days. You probably had a common wood tick.

[target1911]

OH YEAH....one trick to remove the tick. With tweezers, grab as close to the head as you can. Slightly lift the body and twist it 180deg. This will LOCK the head to the body....then pull. The joint between the body and head of a tick is like cam lock and must be twisted to lock it in place. Less of a chance of loosing the head.

[target1911]

To prevent ticks on my dogs I sprinkle garlic powder on their food. Before I started doing this I was getting a few ticks off of them every night. after I started this, I only pulled 2 in 4 months.

[alsaqr]

"To prevent ticks on my dogs I sprinkle garlic powder on their food. Before I started doing this I was getting a few ticks off of them every night. after I started this, I only pulled 2 in 4 months."

Works well for humans too. For many years i have been taking an odorless garlic capsule every day. Have found ticks that have fallen on on my clothing but no tick has ever dug into me.

[target1911]

odorless garlic capsule

Where do you find these?

[priv8ter]

road hunt?

greg

[alsaqr]

"Where do you find these?"

Odorless garlic capsules can be found at any drug store. The brand i am currently using is Spring Valley.

[skinewmexico]

Spray your boots and clothing with peremethrin spray. Before you put them on.

[pax]

How to avoid ticks? Don't do this:

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=67687&stc=1&d=1195663947

pax

[NRA4LIFE]

Definitely be checked for Lyme Desease. Also, in your neck of the woods there, another WAY more deadly (yes, it can kill) cousin of Lyme exists. It's called erliciosis (SP?). It quite often goes completely undiagnosed because little to nothing is known of it. The first cases weren't really truely known until about 10 years ago I think. I know a guy who contracted this from a tick bite in New York state somewhere. It is not pretty.

[Kimber1911_06238]

The best advice is to avoid tall grass, tuck in pant legs, and strip and check for ticks as soon as you get home. If you remove the tick quickly (with tweezers, not by burning or suffocation) your risk of getting lyme disease is greatly reduced.

Lyme disease is named for Lyme CT. Rumor has it that the bacteria somehow got from Plum Island to the CT shore and started this whole mess. Plum island is where the gov't stores (they say they don't anymore, but who knows) biological weapons/disease (ex. bubonic plague, anthrax, etc.) The rumor is that the Lyme disease bacteria was engineered to be antibiotic resistant, but that's heresay as well.

Plum Island does have excellent bluefish and striped bass fishing, but it creeps me out a little everytime I fish there. Something about armed guards watching you with binoculars....even the nuclear power plant doesn't do that.

Ok, my story and rumor spreading is over for now.

[telomerase]

The rumor is that the Lyme disease bacteria was engineered to be antibiotic resistant

Nah, too early... and a lot of the antibiotics weren't even invented yet (of course if you're an Amurrican, you can't get antibiotics that were invented 30 years ago, like roxithromycin.. unless you order them on the Internet :rolleyes:). (Plum Island was a real scandal, just don't overestimate the abilities of 1960s biology :D)

Anyway, the best way to remove ticks: Import fire ants, wait 20 years, and there's hardly any ticks (or anything else) left alive!

[scout26]

Garlic is for wimps. I found that chemotherapy works. Heck, even the mosquito's wouldn't land on me this year.

[oklahoma caveman]

garlic pills really work?

[HankB]

There's stuff you can spray on your clothes - "Coulston" or "Duranon" are the brands I seem to recall - that repel ticks. I believe the active ingredient is permethrin.

I've used it on my clothes both in the USA and in Africa, where they have "tick fever" . . . so far, I've avoided both that and Lyme disease.

[Kman]

permethrin works, I talked to a few guys from the national guard who discovered this spray a few years ago and tried it myself, it's fantastic. If you are a spring turkey hunter or an early season deer hunter it's a must have.

[wuchak]

In NY I hiked in the Adirondacks every weekend for years and never saw a tick. I moved to Kansas and this place is loaded with them. We have a couple of dogs and during the summer I'll pull one or two off them every day. We treat them with Frontline so the ones I miss die within 24 hours. The best thing I have used to remove ticks is a little plastic crowbar made just for that purpose. They come in a two pack for about $5 so you get a small one and a large one for engorged ticks. You just slip it under their body, give it a twist and pull them out. Unlike tweezers it doesn't compress the tick's abdomen so there is less chance of squeezing nasty stuff out of the tick and into you. They have pictures of how to use it at their site.

http://www.otom.com/
http://www.otom.com/images/pgcvpreweb.gif

There is another site selling the same thing rebranded as the Tick Twister. They have a video of it in action at http://www.gandbmarketing.com/ticktwister.htm

I'm guessing the crazy Kansas tick population is probably related to the rabbit population which is high enough that the season runs from Jan 1 to Dec 31 with a daily limit of 10.

[Kimber1911_06238]

wow, that lil plastic crowbar looks like a great idea

[308win]

rabbit population which is high enough that the season runs from Jan 1 to Dec 31 with a daily limit of 10.

If I lived in Kansas I would be sick of eating rabbit.:D

[MCgunner]

I've always heard that wearing panty hose will keep the ticks off. Okay, no, I never tried it, let's get that out of the way right now. I would imagine, though, that Dennis Rodman might not have a lot of problems with ticks. :D

I don't see the numbers of ticks down here that we had where I grew up back in the woods. Hogs get 'em, always seeing 'em when I skin a hog. Deer get 'em, too. I just don't seem to get 'em for some reason. Maybe I taste bad or there's too much vinyl chloride in my blood (30 years in chemical plants) or something.

[Titan6]

Garlic works. Permethin works better. It is what the military issues now.

If the doctor suspects Lyme's he can give you a 7 or 10 day course of anti-biotics that can knock it out before it has a chance to take hold. Good luck I hope all is well with you.

[target1911]

If the doctor suspects Lyme's he can give you a 7 or 10 day course of anti-biotics that can knock it out before it has a chance to take hold. Good luck I hope all is well with you.

7 to 10 days wont cut it. I was givin a 28 day perscripton of antibiotics. And now I have to go back for more because the symptoms are coming back again. I finished my meds about 5 wks ago. I will say that it was 6 months from my first symptom till the day I found a doctor with brains to figure it out and get me tested.


We have a couple of dogs and during the summer I'll pull one or two off them every day.

I tried everything from spraying the yard to perscritions for the dogs. The ONLY thing that kept from getting ANY ticks was lightly sprinkling thier food with garlic powder everytime you feed them. Its CHEAP and it WORKS. BTW....Your beloved dogs can get Lyme too.

[Ohen Cepel]

Permethrin spray your clothes and wear DEET cream (Ultrathon made by 3M).

Those two are proven to work. I have no evidence of the other methods working.

The permethrin should not be smelled out by the deer if you do it well ahead of time, it bonds to the fabric and you're good to go.

[pinkymingeo]

Powdered sulfur in your socks, waistband, cuffs and collar. Oldest preventive there is, and it works.

[CajunBass]

I don't know why I didn't get Lyme's disease or RMSTF or something like that when I was a kid. I used to get hundreds if not thousands of tick bites fishing around the ponds and creeks down home. I guess those diseases hadn't been invented yet. I don't know if they were deer ticks or what. We called 'em "seed ticks." Little bitty buggers.

We won't even talk about chiggers.

Now I pretty much stay out of the woods until cold weather.

[rwc]

ummm, ... hunt in MT when it's 20 degrees out?

[Buzztail]

I sat here and read this whole thread, and now I'm sitting here itching:cuss:

[rdela29]

A customer of mine has what's called Master's Disease - a variation of Lymes that is very hard to diagnose. This poor man went for years not knowing what he had - it took numerous specialists to nail it down. He suffers miserably. The worse part is his daughter acquired the same thing. He feels responsible - he says he called his little girl pup when she was young because she followed him into the woods all the time. He thinks her love for the outdoors is what ultimately led to the contraction.

He says it is spread a specific deer tick - not sure of the name. Said only a female with a white dot on her back carries the disease.

[Topkick]

Avoiding ticks(from an article by a fellow from south Texas)
"Some folks have ticks only in the warmer seasons, we here in south Texas have them year round. The following is how we deal with them;
1- 1/8th teaspoon sulphur(available at the local pharmacy) daily mixed with molasses/honey for one week.

2- the same routine once every other day for one week.

3- the same routine once each week for one month.

4- then once each month for the tick season.

I tried it, it works. they will get on but will NOT stick. Mosquitoes do not seem to care for it either. The taste will not be noticed if mixed in a tablespoon of molasses/honey.

[blkbrd666]

Odorless garlic pills??? Powdered sulfur in your socks??? Geez, I wish my parents had known about those! I had to eat a teaspoon of powdered sulfur straight out of the little can/box every so often in the summertime when I was a kid...YYYYYUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK!!!!! You know how hard that is to swallow dry?...and how nasty it is to wash down? They say the soles of the feet are a great way to absorb anything though, so I guess that makes sense. We did squeeze fresh onion juice in somebody's shoes when I was in college...he had onion breath for days until he threw away the shoes.

[Supertac45]

Sounds like a wood tick. Not really a big deal since as far I can find out, they don't carry Lyme Disease.

[lesterg3]

Lot's of ticks in SC, but the garlic and vinegar trick works great for both ticks and skeeters. I never get bit by either.

[bdg146]

Not sure about Permethrin (never used it) but I have a hard time using deet when hunting due to its odor.

My trick, which has (knock on wood) worked for the past 5-6 years when they started getting really bad is:

1) Tuck everything in. Tuck in layers. Tuck a shirt into your long underwear. Then tuck a shirt into your pants. Then have a shirt hanging down over your pants. Tuck your base layer into your boots, then put your outer pants over your boots. That way, the tick is going to have to skillfully navigate through many layers before ever finding bare skin to bite. Of course, this is difficult when it's warm out.

2) Avoid high grass or any type of brush.

3) Check often. 99% of the time a tick gets on me, I find it from my waist down. I check often. They generally don't move too fast when they first get on you. If you're tree stand hunting check as soon as you get there. Check on your walk in and out (we all need breaks from walking). Every time you have a chance, check.

4) The above are mostly for when I don't have this stuff available, but Scent Shield makes a great tick repellent. It's called "No Stinkin' Ticks". They make an unscented version that carries little scent (to me anyway). Can deer smell it? It doesn't seem like they can. Only downside there is it's expensive and sometimes hard to find. I've never found a tick on my clothing when using it. And no, I don't work for them :)

I almost picked up some odorless garlic pills one time to try them out on mosquitos. So they really work? What's the schedule with those? Do you take them constantly? Start taking them a week before hunting? I'll have to give them a go.

[alsaqr]

I hunt in some of the most tick infested places in the USA every month of the year. Been taking odorless garlic capsules for 15 years. In that time i have found two ticks on my bare skin. One was dug in and the other was trying to get away.

[bdg146]

I just checked the bottle, and the Scent Shield stuff has Permethrin in it. What other products contain Permethrin? Is it generally odorless?

[kilo729]

FYI guys, Permethrin is highly toxic to cats! So be careful if you're a cat owner. It's also classified by the EPA as a potential carcinogen.

[orphanedcowboy]

Sawyer Duranon Permethrin Insect Repellent
(http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0031692516902a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCHFEAT_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&QueryText=Permethrin+&sort=all&Go.y=8&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&Go.x=16&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1)

Use the wash in and your set, no more ticks, or sand fleas, or chiggers.

This was recommended to our group prior to deploying and it flat works. The wash in is suppose to last upwards of six weeks depending on the number of washes. I never noticed any odor either.

[trickshot]

My body is like a magnet for ticks and I have tried various things with little success.
Then a couple years ago I bought some flowers of sulphur, put some in an old sock, tied it off and dust myself with it all over real good every time I walk in the fields and woods. Also every day I eat a tiny little dab of it. Since doing this I have never had a single tick on my skin. I like that it does not have any strong smell like all the insect repellents do, and its inexpensive.

[cleardiddion]

Definitely changing your diet helps.

Healthy doses of garlic and onions I've found helps keep a number of parasites off, including ticks and mosquitos.

Definitely avoid eating a lot of sweet items before heading out and you should be peachy.

[redneck2]

Healthy doses of garlic and onions I've found helps keep a number of parasites off, including ticks and mosquitos.
I would imagine your love file suffers a little...

unless that's the parasites you're talking about. I've been married to some of them...

[zt77]

wow i had no idea this many people were scared of ticks.
here in OK ticks are everywhere. just pull them off and forget about it. if you see any type of rash, get it checked out though that's rare.

however, since in the summer time you can pick up around 50 just walking through tall grass, i drink two tablespoons of vinegar a day, diluted of course.
surely a big tough hunter could tough it out?

[kilo729]

Big tough hunters aren't fans of big tough Lyme Disease.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Like they said, permethrin (spelling?) is the best way, and its sold under a variety of brand names including Permanon - you can find a similar product at any hunting/fishing/camping store, and probably even Walmart.

But, be sure to USE PERMETHRIN AS DIRECTED - it is *poisonous* to put it directly on your skin. You have to spray the clothes you will be wearing (all of them), and then let them dry completely before putting them on (have to plan one or two days ahead of time). Make sure to spray a hat, too, in case they drop on your head. Tuck your pants into your boots, add a little bit of deet/off to the face/neck for good measure and you're off to the races.

Garlic does help a little too, though it's not a surefire thing, I don't think - I take a garlic supplement and one time the horseflies were just *killing* my buddy, and they mostly left me alone. I presume ticks would be similar.

Have no idea about the sulpher or vinegar, but they sound promising.

Yes, deer can smell deet/off, and can smell the permanon, too, so in the early season, you just have to use the wind. Having said that, the dried permanon is not going to smell nearly as strong as the deet/off, so if you use the former without the latter, you can perhaps fare a little better if the wind is agin' ya, and it will work BETTER than just deet/off only, as far as ticks are concerned.

What to do if you get them ANYWAY is not asked by the OP, but has been covered pretty well here nevertheless.

Oh yeah, get treated NOW by a Doc, in case you have lyme or other disease.

[308win]

What - exactly - is flowers of sulfur and where does one get it - pharmacy, verterinarian supplies, nutrition store? Or, can you just get plain old sulfur?

[driftrider]

I've always heard that wearing panty hose will keep the ticks off. Okay, no, I never tried it, let's get that out of the way right now. I would imagine, though, that Dennis Rodman might not have a lot of problems with ticks.

They also keep sand fleas from eating you alive, too. Seriously, though, given the choice between pantyhose and Lyme disease, which one are you going to choose? Personally, I wear microfabric tights as my base layer when hunting in the cold. They keep me warm and dry, and they don't bunch up and itch like long-johns do, and you can get ones made for men that are 1/3 the cost of Under Armor, which are really just glorified and overpriced mens tights. I know which way I swing, my wife knows I wear them, and I personally don't give a hoot what others think. No one will ever see them anyway.

As for the garlic and sulfur...um, garlic I'd do, but ingesting large quantities of sulfur just doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. The permethrin is supposed to work good, but the brands that I tried do definitely smell. If I can smell the stuff, the deer sure can. Again, though... stink like bug spray, or get lyme disease? Not a tough question.

Mike

[iiranger]

Modern diet is way to focussed on starches which leave the body acid and tasty and attr4ractive to insects... reflects "un-health..." So it would be GREAT to cut way back on junk food, bubble drinks like pop and beer (darn), etc. Any sugar or simple starch. Good protein and complex carbs (colored veggies).

B). If you understand, the vitamin B1, also called thiamine, in excess will spill out onto the skin and you will taste AWFUL to pests. i). You need to be getting enough of all B vitamins or this doesn't work. [Laeatrile is B-17 now...] Can't live on twinkies and beer and expect this to work. A "one a day" twice a day is a fair start. Natural source is liver. The other is fermented foods like real bread, cheeses, vinegar... vinegar from the health food store with the "mother wort" still in it, etc. Then you add a small amount of B-1... 50 mg? 100 mg? so it leaks out and the bugs will flee. You won't believe it until you hit this level. Then you still won't believe, just watch it work in amazement. Scouts will land. They taste with their feet. They will scream (in bug) "FOUL" and fly away and the swarm might swarm but won't land, well a few scouts every so often...

The second suggestion, sulphur, is, again, largely absent from the diet. Easy is the yoke of eggs. The yellow is sulphur. Eggs will lower your chloresterol, but when the main stream doctors found they had been wrong they were not loud admitting it. Or you can eat small amounts. Sulphur is also high in the onion/garlic family. Compounds resembling the old "sulfa drugs" of yesteryear. Maybe you have heard of an infection "cured" by a poultice of onion or garlic... There is a "cure" for the super bug outside the USA, based on garlic. Drug companies haven't welcomed it yet. No profits.

Beyond that there are herbs in legion. Lavender. Some mints. Oil of ??? You have to ask the old women... Nice thing there, you will smell, --IF you don't get cheap and buy some imitation of the smell that game can spot at 500 yards-- like the local plants and "blend in..."

And what works for people can work for any other warm blooded mammal like a dog. Need a little care and checking. I never guessed that chocolate and raisins would "do in" fido... LUCK.

[atomchaser]

garlic pills + deet on exposed skin + permethrin treating clothing.

[bdg146]

wow i had no idea this many people were scared of ticks.

Lyme disease scares me. For some it's no big deal... some antibiotics and things are fine. For others it affects them for a LONG time. I don't want to deal with that.

I realize to have a good chance of contracting it, the tick has to be in you for something like 24 hours. A thorough check when you get home should alleviate that risk, but I still find myself distracted with it while I'm out hunting. I find myself being preoccupied with checking for ticks when I'm out in the woods, and anything that takes away from what would otherwise be a relaxing experience is worth taking seriously. To me, hunting is just as much about being out there as it is about actually getting something.

[308win]

Around central Ohio ticks only seem to be particularly bothersome around morel time (mid/late April to early May). Spring turkey season may be a little early for them although not being a turkey hunter right now I could be totally wrong on that. Either that, or when I am hunting groundhogs and Coyotes I am not where the ticks are - nor the Coyotes very often:(.

As for the Lyme disease, we get a few cases of that reported in the paper every year.

[280shooter]

I had Lyme disease for over 2 years before they found out why i was sick,, Yes IM A WHOLE lot scared of Lymes,, If you never had it,I hope you never get it.. it never leaves your body.. you'll always have it.I had to go back for more meds after 6 months,I have blood work ever 6 months to make sure its under control,

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Sorry to hear that, 280 - hope we can all learn from your heartache!

[KevinAbbeyTech]

If you have a tick, put some dish soap (like dawn) on it, and it will let go without having to pull it off.

[caribou]

Live in Alaska!

Only horse flys and misquitos by the sq foot for 2 months a year:scrutiny:

[bdg146]

Live in Alaska!

Never thought about using the tick angle. I'll run that by the fiancee. Pretty sure that isn't gonna fly though :)

[Inspector3711]

I moved to Kansas and this place is loaded with them. We have a couple of dogs and during the summer I'll pull one or two off them every day. We treat them with Frontline so the ones I miss die within 24 hours. The best thing I have used to remove ticks is a little plastic crowbar made just for that purpose.

If you have a tick, put some dish soap (like dawn) on it, and it will let go without having to pull it off.


Exactly what I was going to write. I learned the Dawn trick from our friends in Kansas last July. We were fishing in the strip pits... Tick-o-rama.

[hardluk1]

Well a , well , i guess i have tried panny hose for ticks after getting covered with small ticks ,i mean covered on my legs. Must be funny to see 2 grown men standing around in there undies sweeping little bitty ticks off use around perry florida one year. We shot 2 nice hogs and just could not get to them with out putting those thangs on and going in to hunt them up to help keep them off. Even the spray did not help much . Pick'n then up waist high off the bushes so also hard on white tee shirts. Never again .. The tick spray does work but everthing in the woods down wind can smell it. And it is diedly for use.

[Brian Dale]

Yup, appropriate to bring up this thread. April's when they get thick around here; I've taken two off my dog and one off the cat in the past two days.

I use DEET. Lots and lots of DEET, especially on my shoes or boots, my socks and my trousers. I also check for 'em, thoroughly, when I come in from the woods. A couple of my neighbors have been infected with Lyme disease and, as others have posted here, it's no good thing to have.

[publiuss]

i haven't had one in years but I always used tweezers. I wonder how well one of those liquid nitrogen wart freezers would work?

[target1911]

wow i had no idea this many people were scared of ticks.
here in OK ticks are everywhere. just pull them off and forget about it. if you see any type of rash, get it checked out though that's rare.

however, since in the summer time you can pick up around 50 just walking through tall grass, i drink two tablespoons of vinegar a day, diluted of course.
surely a big tough hunter could tough it out?



It IS a big deal. You dont always get the noted "BULLS EYE RASH". I did not get the rash and I here to tell you that LYME SUCKS.

[308win]

Go morel hunting too early. I went today (Licking County) and did not get one tick nor morel. Next weekend if we get a warm night or two this week and the morels - and the ticks - will be out.

[JImbothefiveth]

I wonder how well one of those liquid nitrogen wart freezers would work
It might freeze you as well as the tick, and you still might get lyme. Just a guess though.

[Cpt. America]

Eat matchheads, start a week before you go into the field. It'll give you a "pleasent" oder and ticks won't mess with you.

[scythefwd]

permethrin or pyretherin sprays on your clothing. DONT put the clothes on until it has dried though. DEET is also pretty good at keeping the ticks away. Do a check each and every time you go out. Ticks will ride on your clothes for a while before they bite sometimes so removing your clothes removes that little risk. I also take a good bath after I come in from the field to drown any that may be in my hair before they bite.

[spiroxlii]

I was wondering how long it would be before somebody pointed out that garlic and onions contain sulfur compounds. iiranger nailed it. If you guys have heard that sulfur works, then it makes sense that garlic would work. After you eat garlic, some of the sulfurous compounds actually come out through the pores in your skin for up to a day or two.

I've been working in the woods and grassy fields since I was little, and I have had two ticks on my body in my entire life. Now I know that my Korean diet (rich in garlic) may have something to do with it! :)

[noob_shooter]

it's a bit noisy, but i sometimes would wear nylon clothes when hunting. Ticks and other insects can't grab on nylon clothes. They'll fall off when you're walking and rubbing tree/twigs..

put on my usual hunting clothes/jackets or whatever and then wear like a nice wind breaker pants and light jacket with a hood over

[neuf08]

I swear by garlic. It seems to work incredibly well for not having problems with ticks. I also hate them and have seen too many lives practically ruined by Lyme Disease to fool around. I take every precaution necessary. Of course I am careful about how I dress when in heavily wooded areas (tuck everything in to prevent them from getting in clothes), check myself over very carefully when done, and even careful check my hair and scalp. Many people will even give garlic to their dogs to prevent them from picking them up as well. I definitely think that garlic (http://www.seacoastvitamins.com/product_info.php?products_id=1892) helps a lot.

[Kentucky Windage]

Just ordered several of those tick twisters -- looks pretty useful.

[CSA 357]

STAY IN THE HOUSE:neener:

[Encoreman]

Okay, I have never personally used this technique as I just got it this week. To easily remove a tick: take a cotton ball and saturate with a liquid anti-bacterial soap, daub this onto the tick real easy and plenty of soap. This cuts off his air supply and he will turn loose and back out. They said this was especially effective for children. Mac

[BP44]

Please dont:cuss:

burn them off
twist them off
pull them off by their body

use a tick puller or even a fine pair of tweezers and grasp as close to the head and pull directly out. I am not a doctor (I am a EMT though) but i spend over six months of my year in the woods all over the western half of the nation and these are tried and true methods that reduce leaving the ticks head in the bite area as well as squeezing its contents back into yourself risking infection.

[Supertac45]

Garlic is also poisonous to dogs. Not advisable unless you want to kill your dog slowly. Check with your Vet.

[target1911]

Garlic is also poisonous to dogs. Not advisable unless you want to kill your dog slowly. Check with your Vet.

I have never heard this and I will be checking with a vet....but do you have a link to this info?
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[A-FIXER]

good info....

[Marcus5aurelius]

+1 http://www.otom.com/

NEVER pull it out with your hands or even tweezers you have to be very careful. Best "repellent" of ticks is to eat garlic, it pours from your sweat and they don't like to be on you as much. There is a supplement in pill form that has the same effect but doesn't give you the bad breath

[alsaqr]

Best "repellent" of ticks is to eat garlic, it pours from your sweat and they don't like to be on you as much. There is a supplement in pill form that has the same effect but doesn't give you the bad breath


+1

Been taking garlic capsules since 1993. Ticks get on the skin but just want to get away. They never dig in.

[spiroxlii]

Been taking garlic capsules since 2993. Ticks get on the skin but just want to get away. They never dig in.

How are the gun control laws in a thousand years?

[Brian Dale]

Garlic and dogs: onions (http://jlhweb.net/Boxermap/onions.html) are known to damage dogs' hemoglobin and cause hemolytic anemia (http://dogs.suite101.com/article.cfm/onion_toxicity_in_dogs).

Another report (http://www.azmira.com/PublicationGarlicTheFacts.htm) suggests that garlic doesn't have nearly the amount of the relevant compound that onions have.

There's a lot of vigorous assertion and folklore (http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf72204470.tip.html) out there. If I come across a good, veterinarian-run study, I'll post a link. In the mean time, I don't feed either onions or garlic to my dog.