tick repellant

After setting out a couple of cameras last weekend we found 5 ticks on my youngest daughter, 2 on my oldest and 1 on me, hate to imagine what it will be like when it gets warmer and we are actually sitting on the ground hunting, its a little spendy for me to try and set all 3 of us up with any of repellant type clothing on the market now, not too mention kids usually outgrow the stuff in a year or two, wondering if anyone knows of any spray on repellants that work.

Permethrin is the active ingredient to look for in any of the tick repellents, as it’s the only one I’ve ever found that works.

What works best is using this spray, in combination with some clothes tucking. First tuck your pants into your socks and duct tape if they don’t stay. Really, this isn’t a joke. You’ll look funny but have a better chance of staving them off. Then, tuck in your shirt and wear longsleeves. Most ticks are at ankle to knee level, and the idea is to make them have to crawl all the way up to your neck before they can get to skin. By this time, the odds are a little better that they’ll get brushed off or spotted.

Still, in areas with loads of ticks (middle MN, St. Croix River Valley, NW WI) I’d be biting the bullet on the elmitick clothing. These are the worst areas I’ve ever hunted/fished in for ticks, and there wasn’t any amount of prevention that could keep them off you reliably.

Joel

Last year I was turkey hunting some ground in southern missouri when I got drove out by a ridiculous amount of ticks crawling all over me. I went to bass pro and purchased a bottle of permethrin, sprayed my clothes, let them sit for a day, went back the next day to tick heaven and didn’t find a one on me. This stuff freaken works.

Not sure how well a turkey can smell. Does that have to be a factor when buying a spray, or does smell not matter when turkey hunting?
DT

I don’t think smell is an issue, but I could be wrong…

Mark

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I don’t think smell is an issue, but I could be wrong…

Mark

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I think you’re right Mark. Everything I’ve ever read or seen on turkeys has me believing that they can’t sniff very well. Lord knows if they could we’d be trying to defend the motherland from them.

Joel

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Lord knows if they could we’d be trying to defend the motherland from them.

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Ain’t that the truth!

Old saying,

If turkeys could smell you would need a rife to shoot them.