A New Jersey man has died from AGS, Alpha-Gal Syndrome. He was bitten by a tick infected with Alpha-Gal. This causes you to become allergic to red meat. Be careful out there.
they are really bad here, Ive pulled easily over 200 off me. I know landscapers and tree workers who wear panty hose under their clothes because the ticks cannot get thru it and spraying deet on your skin everyday is well you know.....treating clothes only goes so far also here in 6' high scrub oak brush.
My first layer is called Rhyno Skin. It was developed for Special Forces, after our troops in Vietnam kept asking their wives and girlfriends to send them pantyhose to wear. It is true, they cannot get through the pantyhose to attach. Rhyno Skin has bottoms, tops, head cover and gloves, all with elastic cuffs to ensure nothing can crawl underneath. I've been using it for years.
I was in the first group of Marines to arrive in Vietnam as a unit, as opposed to Special Forces, in 1965. We had no panty hose or girlfriends to send any, and the few Marines who had not received dear John letters yet were probably afraid to ask their girlfriends to send panty hose in case they might get the wrong idea. So we were stuck with pulling ticks off with our fingers and getting leeches off by squirting them with John Wayne juice. Fortunately, diseases like Lyme and Alpha Gal (what a gal she must have been) and a whole slew of STD's had not been invented yet, so ticks and leeches and condoms were more of a nuisance than a serious risk, and we just drank our warm beer and counted the days.
I've never seen them as bad as they are here now. I read somewhere that deer ticks weren't prevalent in the midwest until like 2010. They seem to be the worst on days that are cool in the mornings and then warm up into the 60s by the afternoon. It's nothing to pull 10-20 deer ticks off my clothing after walking through thick brush scouting or hunting.
I've been using the premethrin spray on my outer layers, it seems to help. That being said I pulled a deer tick off my dad's back that was attached a couple weeks ago after an afternoon hunt. Never thought I'd have to check for ticks after every deer hunt in November.
Unless its frigid temps you need to check or focus on feeling them on you.. as far as my experience they dont go dormant just freeze up a bit till it warms up,,,,, me and wife were at a neighborhood variety store we parked at edge of lot so small dog could pee,,, he didnt even leave the concrete and putting him in car we seen he was covered in ticks!!! I shined light at parking lot surface it was infested.... someone told as the night cools the ticks head onto the warm parking lot.
When you go home after hunting or scouting your clothes have to go into a sealed bag to keep any ticks contained then take the hottest shower possible.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8729907/
Soliman Auricular Allergy Treatment (SAAT) shows success in treating Alpha-gal. Do do a web search as there are several articles covering successful treatment variations.
This is of particular interest to me as over the last 18 years I've dealt with 6 cases of tick borne diseases while working around my farm each Spring and Summer.
Im a forester in Appalachia so ticks are a normal part of life. I've had Lyme and Ehrlichia. The past few years I've been eating garlic every morning. Does t matter the time of year. I'll eat raw cloves, pickled, or the tablets. I haven't had a tick embedded since I started that. I still find them on me though. I learned this from an old logger I work with. Give it a shot.
Radford great tip!!! Hey i forgot something else,,, when i was doing lawns for a summer job i remember that we all showered using Irish spring soap because the ticks didn't like it... im almost positive i didn't get any ticks attached to me that time... but it is the worse for hunting anything that has a good nose.
I'm in the woods fairly often as that's where my club's 30 target 3d range is located. I wear 16" rubber boots and put a couple of drops of 100% deet on the inside of my wrists, rub them together then over my clothes, primarily for mosquitos. I have not had a tick on me in years.