looking for a good tick repellent

[Squid4]

Any suggestions on what is a really good tick repellent? (Either skin or clothing type)

thank you

[Dan Morris]

GI days, we used powdered sulphur......
Dan

[BILLY D.]

I use Off. I also use duct tape around my cuffs and wrists, long sleeve shirts.

Fritz D. Dog likes it also. He's never had a flea and ticks usually just walk around on his skin and outer fur and don't seem to penetrate. For some strange reason he doesn't like to have his underneath rear sprayed, when I spray he gets unruly. His body fur is very tight but underneath in the less dense fur they do the most damage.

I just read in the paper last week North Dakota has over 200 cases of West Nile disease. Thats stuff worries me. Although we have had frosts there are still plenty of skeeters. Actually mosquitoes are our state bird. The telephone pole is our state tree.

I love this place though. Where else can you take a drive in the country, stop the truck and look across the plains and prairie and see nothing but green grass and if it weren't for the curvature of the earth you could see forever. If you get lost in this state you have really worked at it. You can usually see a grain elevator if you look hard enough.

Best wishes, Bill

[jmarriott]

DEET 100 %. I use deep Woods OFF.

[Rocky Raab]

Seconds on the powdered sulfur. I like to put a couple ounces in an old sock, and then just pat that wherever there's a seam: sock tops, belt, cuffs, neck, etc.

It works on chiggers, too. They can't stand it, I guess.

[Calif Hunter]

Sawyer has some "soak in" permethrin that kills the ticks - you soak your socks and clothes in it and the ticks die when they climb onto them. Sawyer also makes some time-release DEET repellent that works on your skin. Most repellents do NOT work on your clothes as they act to counter the bugs receptors of your scent, etc.

Cabellas has the above products. I used them in Africa and had zero bug problems. As a repellent, Avon's "Skin so Soft" also works well.

[Contenderizer]

I got COVERED with ticks while in Tenn turkey hunting this year. Had applied deet around the openings of my pants and shirt, but somehow they got in anyway. It took months for the swelling and itching to subside.

I've used powdered sulfur (the kind you use for insect control on plants) on our goats when I suspect mange, or anything else for that matter. It works great. Never thought about using it on myself for ticks.

Tell me more Rocky.

[Rocky Raab]

That's about all there is to it, I think.

I've used it in Florida and Mississippi, where the ticks and chiggers were really thick, and it sure helped.

Back then, you could buy "flowers of sulfur" -which was an extremely fine powder- in the drugstore. I simply dumped some in an old sock and then pat the sock all over myself; more at ankles, wrists and belt than on flat areas. Drop the sock into a ziploc and you can reapply in the field as needed. Also learned it makes a great wind indicator; just slap it or squeeze it and the slightest breeze will carry it away.

[Calif Hunter]

Contenderizer - as I mentioned above, DEET or other repellents do not work on your clothes. It needs a chemical reaction with your skin to fool or deter the nose or whatever of the bugs. Permethrin will work sprayed or soaked into your clothes.

[Contenderizer]

Thanks guys, I'll try the sulfur and permethrin, though not necessarly at the same time.