Be Careful Shed Hunting

[younggun1849]

Found about 10 ticks on my golden doodle tonight after 2 hours of shed hunting. Didn't think the ticks would be out this early, but I was wrong. After getting lymes last year I'm a little more wary about ticks.

Anybody have any repellent advice? I'm in the woods almost everyday and feel I need to take some precaution.

Good news, my dog found his first shed today, he's a year and a half old dog, and smart as hell. Pretty cool feeling after training him since he was a puppy. Hopefully the first of many. It was just a small 4 point side, but It was a cool moment we had.

 

[Greta&Gus]

Goldendoodles rule.

 

[SD51555]

That's awesome, I would love to have a shed hunting dog. I could hunt them things till I fell over from exhaustion.

On the tick front, check out mixing your own permethrin spray. This is a cost effective and top notch way to ward off them ticks, and you don't have to apply any (nor should you) to your skin. This is for your clothes. The bottle below is a 10% concentrate.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/permethrin-10-livestock-amp;-premise-spray-32-oz

Mix your own and you'll save tons of money. Here's the pre-mixed ready to use at 0.5% for $10.

http://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Produc...d=1426646579&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=pyrethrine

Mix your own and you'll probably get 15 times as much for the same amount of money. I'd consult a label of that yellow bottle from amazon to fully understand how to use this stuff. Then I'd make your own. I started doing it last year. Biggest thing is to never apply it to your skin. Apply it to your clothes and let them dry before you put them on.

 

[Catscratch]

I had a tick a couple weeks ago. It was cool enough outside that we had a fire going in the wood burner... guess where the tick ended up:)

Way too early to be messing with those things. And the mix above works!

 

[SD51555]

I was off on my math. That 32 oz bottle of concentrate would yield you 53 bottles worth of the pre-mixed. But you'd have to buy your own spray bottle for $5.

 

[shawnv]

I used the sawyer spray last year to treat my clothes and it worked fantastic for ticks and skeeters.

 

[gwm]

We went out this last weekend and had six ticks on us between us and the dog. We usually spray with Sawyer's but also didn't think they would be out this soon.

Congrats on the shed.

 

[browndog]

Picked a couple dozen deer ticks of my two Goldens last week. Went out today again, only found one on them. I sprayed them yesterday and today with a flea and tick spray made with peppermint oil and clove extract. They are also on Nexgard. Both of my Goldens got nabbed last year with Lymes. My clothes are treated with Sawyer's.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

congrats on the pup's shed find!

I honestly havent really used any repellents in years. The area that i live in now just doesnt seem to have too many of those pests. I did however used to live in area that was infested with them. I have literally had hundreds of tick bites and somehow have managed to dodge the lyme's bullet.....and i lived about 15 miles from Lyme, CT...ground zero for the disease. Knocking on wood!

 

[foggy]

I had a tick a couple weeks ago. It was cool enough outside that we had a fire going in the wood burner... guess where the tick ended up:)

Way too early to be messing with those things. And the mix above works!

I've been known to destroy a few ticks in the microwave (waaay back when microwaves were a new toy :D).

We buy a few cans of Repel brand Permethrin each year. Costs a bit more than mixing....but the convenience factor is worth it. Maybe spend $20 a year in boughten spray.....vs Lyme disease?.....money well spent!

Also use "barn spray" on the floor of my boat. Keeps those biting black flies and deer flies away. WORKS SLICK! (it has a permethrin base too - but much stronger)

We also spray our golf cart, wheelers, and tractor with permethrin. I think it keeps the ticks away.....as well as a spray on our clothes.

We have "tick haven"......so protecting ourselves is important. We seldom pick up a tick if we have properly treated our clothes.

 

[Peeps]

I mix my own permethrin from concentrate. I usually get it at Fleet Farm. It works great. Last spring I looked down and saw one of those bastards crawling up my pants. Stood and watched him slow, start to lose his grip, and then curl up and fall off my treated pants. Didn't find any today up in Marinette county but found a deer tick last weekend down in Vernon county.

 

[SD51555]

I started using it last year after the arachnophobia planting season of 2013. I flung well over a hundred ticks off myself in one day planting bare root trees in tubes. The first day I had one tick I found crawling across my wrist at the end of the day. I spent the last part of the first day setting stakes with the driver. It was as if it was a wake up call, because day two they were everywhere. I was so creeped out and freaked out that when I finished planting, I jumped in the truck immediately and headed back to farm country. I would wake up in the middle of the night for the next four days thinking I had ticks crawling on me.

This last year we didn't have a single one in two days, but we were using the good stuff by then and planting plugs vs getting down in the grass and leaves to screw around with bare roots. I'm curious what this year will be like.