With the Spring turkey season about to kick off here in NYS, I had a question about ticks. I use different things to keep ticks off of me, but have about MSM. It is usually paired up with Glucosamine and Chondroitin in supplement form. Supposedly, the MSM, which is a form of sulphur will repel the ticks from your skin. I heard it takes about 2 months of using the supplement to work effectively. Has anyone tried this? I know it's too late to try it now for the Spring season, but maybe something to think about.
This would be nice to know. :help: :help:
Great question... I understand that they are really getting to be a problem in New York... when I was a kid ( a long time ago), we never heard of them. Hope someone will educate us Northerners who have little experience with them.
A supplement would be good, but what would the long term affects of using be, and for those on certain cardiac or other medical meds is there a compatibility factor involved.
Until then just use Sawyers on your clothes it works great.Tim
I've used a Hatrz Flea and Tick Collar before. Seemed to work for me. I put it around my leg.
Been Googling-there definitely seems to be something to this. Wondering if the amount in the Glucosamin is enough? And maybe repel other insects too?
I don't know what it is. Maybe the end is coming and they are a plague thing, but they are terrible here in SW Pa. NEVER saw a tick on me or our dogs until a couple of years ago. Now they're everywhere. Heck if there was a pill I could take I would!
Glenn
I have taken Glucosimine, condrotin, and MSM for many years now to help with sore joints. I have not really thought of it until now, but I have not found a tick on me in quite sometime. Interesting.
Sawyers is a good solution in the meantime :thumbsup: :campfire:
This may be a little off topic, but a few years ago a friend of a friend of a friend of mine came up with an insect repelling patch (like a nicotine patch). Last I heard he was trying to patent it, but I havent seen or heard nothin since. I believe he told me they were packed with some form of B vitamin or somethin. The guy was in the medical field some kind of way. Anyway, i tried a couple on a fishin trip, and it seemed to help keep the skeeters from biting me. They weren't absolutely 100% effective, but did seem to work well enough to consider using. Maybe these were based on the same idea as far as what was actually in em? Sorry if I butted in.. :knothead:
Not sure if it has to do with anything, but I do alot of strength training....have for years. Been taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM supplement for YEARS as a joint health/preventive messure for the stress my joints and connective tissue are subjected to from training. These supplements are proven to promote joint health and are deemed safe. I've spent lots of time in the field....have had lots of tics on me. NEVER been bit yet to date (nock on wood!) Maybe Im just lucky, coincidence, whatever? This would be great to know about though.....and even greater if it were true! Tics are just plain NO GOOD :mad:
Best thing for ticks is to properly treat your clothes with Permanone (pyrethrin.) ArkyBob and I were in our "hidey hole" waiting for a turkey a couple weeks ago and he was getting eaten up. I didn't have even one tick on me. Needless to say, he sprayed his clothes when we got back to camp.
The pyrethrin is really a good product, and you can get it in a synthetic formula also, and not toxic to humans, we spray it on our range here, and although we dont get them all, it thins them out,
As far as the MSM I have not heard of this, but I know a guy that feeds his dog and him a teaspoon of brewers yeast every day with food, and he swears it keeps the fleas and ticks off the dog and him, ?????
I don't know it for a fact but I have hunted quite a bit in the deep South, where the Brazilian fire ant is well established, and I don't recall being hit by a tick. Chiggers are another story but I think the fire ants keep them in control.
I'm accustomed to fire ants but ticks....never.
I understand MSM can also be purchased as an independent supplement, if anyone wants to go that route............may be cheaper than in a combination.
I've been taking msm for a couple of years and have yet to get bit by a tick, 1000mgs a day. It will not repel mosquitos, they still like me as much as ever.
I don't know if MSM will keep off the ticks but I have some MSM cream that I use when I get stung by wasps. I just put a gob on the red mark from the wasp and within five minutes, no pain at all and the red mark is gone. MSM is very helpful to a lot of people for arthritis and joint maintenance. But it can have a side effect on some people (I'm one). It can give you diarrhea. So I use glucosamine and chondroitin without the MSM. I read a whole book on just MSM. MSM is DMSO that has been brought to a boil which adds a molecule of oxygen. DMSO was brought out in the sixties as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory. It never made it through the FDA because of lack of funding. The people who were pushing it abandoned it. You can now buy it at feed stores. It is used to treat horses with sore joints. It only costs about five bucks for a pint. Gary
Ticks started up early this year due to the mild winter--dogs were coming in with them most days. The recent cold snap seems to have slowed them down. A tick collar called "preventic" works very well--for humans? Long sleeves and tied-up pants legs, a thorough scrub in the shower after hunting.
Try Original Listerine. Put in spray bottle and use it as a Bug Spray. Repels ticks black flies and musquitos. It worked great today in the blind!
I took glucosamine for long time....then I was told I have type 2 diabetes. I had to stop it because it raised my glucose levels to an unacceptable level. So be careful........On another note,I eat a lot of garlic, I love the stuff. When we go stumping all my friends are picking ticks of all day long and I get none or maybe one.....garlic may work, seems to keep the black flies from biting also!
Ron my buddy is in the Army and they told him to eat garlic to keep ticks away as well.
It'll keep "unwanted friends" away as well! :biglaugh:
I am a true believer in Permanone. It works very well. Just don't spray it directly on your skin, or it can cause great irritation. I try to spray my clothes inside and out the night before I hunt. It dries but remains effective.
Also, I have heard that taking very large doses of vitamin B1 will repel mosquitoes.
Does the Listerine treatment leave an odor that repels deer?
I think the garlic route might also repel people.
Sage, DMSO is a solvent. Lots of stuff go into it. It absorbs well right thru your skin. So, when you smear it on your skin, whatever else is in it is also going in. . You are not likely to find any medical or USP grade equivalent DMSO available.
Just saying.
ChuckC
x2 for garlic. It'll keep just about everythin off of you, including your wife. :D
ChuckC has it right. DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide) will "carry" anything through your skin. It was rubbed on horses knees to carry asprin directly to the joint. Be careful with that stuff.
I have spent 15 years working as a soil scientist and spent most of those days in the woods during all times of the year. Most of this time was spent in the southeastern states where ticks are PLENTIFUL!
The key is to keep the ticks from getting under your clothes. I use a pair of low cut rocky mountain gators to seal off my pant legs. These are sprayed with Permanone regularly. I do not spray permanone on any other item of clothing because with the summer temps down south, I sweat thru everything (shirt and pants) in a day an can't help but believe some of the permanone would be absorbed by my skin.
Keep shirt tucked into pants.
I spray Deet on pants legs and a little on shoulders for ticks I may pick up from overhanging brush plus to deter skeeters.
If they can't find a way to your skin, the ticks will keep crawling up and you feel them when they hit your neck and they are easily picked off and killed. This system has worked great for me for many years and is also how I handle things while hunting.
Just my 2 cents based on many days spent in tick country.
The permanone sprayed gaitors also save a lot of grief from chiggers.
The down side of garlic repelling people would be......what??? :saywhat:
Garlic is the primary base component in almost all deer and animal repellents for garden and such. I would not suggest using it on your clothes during any hunting season.JMHO
You eat it, :biglaugh: not wear it!!
I wouldnt do that either during hunting season.
I have read that one of the B vitamins is an effective insect repellent when ingested. If I'm not mistaken, alcohol consumption depletes your body's B vitamins so lay off the beer if the mosquitoes are driving you crazy. Pyrethrin is a strong miticide (kills ticks and chiggers). I believe it is the one that is derived from chrysanthemums. You could try planting mums next to your blind. Not sure how effective that would be though. It would be a nice bonus if deer like to eat mums, but I don't know. I once ate two quail egg sized cloves of raw garlic. I thought it would repel the old lady from me. It had the opposite affect. Repelled me away from her and onto the sofa for a couple nights.
Don't remember where I read or heard it, but crawling insects will not cross a line of mint plants. Mint also repels black flies and mosquitoes, I can vouch for that. If you have a mint plant just take some of the leaves and rub them where you don't want the insects, for the flying kind just take a few leaves and chew on them, worked great for everyone up in Maine at a friends house in warmer months.
Another great product for ticks and chiggers, is Badger Anti-Bug spray, it's all organic and perfectly safe for kids and adults sprayed right on the clothes and skin. I have used it for a couple of years now and I have not gotten one stinken chigger bit or tick bite. Can't use it for dear though as it does have an odor.
Back in the 50's and 60's my grandfather dusted his cuffs-pants and shirts-with powdered sulfur, then tucked his pant legs in his socks to keep the ticks and chiggers off.
QuoteOriginally posted by ron w:
The down side of garlic repelling people would be......what??? :saywhat:
Your breath. :goldtooth: :biglaugh: