How to Stay Tick Free

When you are out hunting, hiking, checking trail cams or camping the last thing you want to worry about is ticks! Ticks can be extremely dangerous and carry a lot of diseases that we don't want passed onto us, the most common one being Lyme disease. Ticks live in tall grass, which we often have to walk through to get to our deer stands, ground blinds or to check our game cameras. They either climb up or fall onto their hosts and we often don't know they are there until they have already bitten us. Allison and I have several tips and tricks to help keep you tick free so you can enjoy your time in the outdoors! 

Warmer weather usually means the ticks are out! But if you can stand to, wear long sleeves, jeans and boots and tuck your jeans into your boots. A long sleeve shirt that wicks away moisture is the best option. This top by Minus33 at EvoOutdoors would be a great option for hiking, checking trail cams and camping:

http://shop.evooutdoors.com/Womens-Lightweight-Crew-by-Minus33-M33802.htm

Comfortable Fine Merino Wool Wicks and Breathes Well. Antimicrobial.

A great option for hunting is one of my personal favorites, the moisture wicking Ultra Long Sleeve Shirt by Prois, also available at EvoOutdoors:

http://shop.evooutdoors.com/Ultra-Long-Sleeve-Shirt-by-Prois-P4002.htm

Wicking Polyester! Awesome Warm weather shirt, form fitting with an athletic cut.

This next step is the most important in order to keep the ticks away. Use a tick spray that contains either Permanone or Permethrin (permanone is a permethrin based product) in the ingredients. If it doesn't have either of these 2 ingredients, you will mostly just be repelling mosquitos. Spray down your clothes and boots but make sure you do NOT get this on your skin. It's a good idea to spray your clothes down the night before you go out and make sure the spray has dried before you put them on. Ticks that come into contact with the Permanone/Permethrin spray die within 10-20 seconds of contact!

Both the Repel tick spray with Permanone and Sawyer's tick spray with Permethrin are great options. I use Sawyer's Peremthrin spray and have been out on my land turkey hunting, checking trail cams and fishing and have not found a tick on me yet this season! You can purchase the Sawyer's Permethrin tick spray at Ozark Survival Gear: http://ozarksurvivalgear.com/shop/camping-gear/sawyer-permethrin-clothing-insect-repellent/

Keep these simple tips in mind for your next hunting, hiking or camping trip and I promise you will see a dramatic decrease in the amount of ticks you find on you, if you find any at all!

Andrea Haas