I was out in the woods all weekend...scouting for Hog sign and looking at areas to "hopefully" get my first trad shot at a deer this season. I've been out of the area for quite a few years and forgot about those pesky little guys! :help: I was wearing long cotton cargo style pants and good boots. I am eaten up with chigger bites! Even below the boot line down to my ankles. How does that happen? :confused:
Can anyone give advice on the right product to use to help with this or should I just "man up" if I'm going to be out in the woods during this time of year? :dunno:
Also worried about the smell of standard bug sprays etc!
Thanks folk!
I use perminone. Spray my boots and clothes. Hadnt had a chigger in 20 years since starting to use it. Keeps most of the ticks off also.
Horesflys are another story. It slows them down a bit, but they ran me out of the woods this weekend.
The best system I have found (from spending a career that has me in the woods year around)is to purchase some nylon gaitors (I use Rocky Mountain Low Gaitors) or some of the stretchy leg cuffs commonly sold as tick gaitors. Spray these down with permanone on a regular basis and you will not have any problems with chiggers beyond the rare bite or two.
Go to WalMart and buy some Permanon. It will rid you of all your chigger problems. That stuff works great.
Good Luck.
Went in the woods for an extended time this past Weds. I used permanone. No chiggers.
I went into the woods to check my mineral lick Thursday. Spent all of five minutes in the woods. Eaten up from chest to ankles and even some on my feet. (last count was around 50 bites)
Permanone is THE way.
You can buy a 6oz Permetherine concentrate for cattle and mix your own. You'll have years worth of coverage.
Agree permanone is the way to go, once dry on your clothing no odor and lasts several weeks. Ticks and redugs/chiggers are bad this year.
This will make you feel a little less manly unless you can get a female type friend to make the purchase for you, but I have combined an old Infantry trick involving "sock liners" (women's knee high panty hose) soaked in the afore mentioned permanone. You then have a knee high skin tight layer of fantastic insecticide. Add that to the regular treatment of your boots, socks, and pants and you should be golden. You feel a little goofy at the dollar store buying ten or fifteen of the little plastic ball panty hose containers for $.99 each, but it's well worth it to avoid the parasite problems.
scouting ,rain suit bibs and duct tape cuffs to rubber boots and some round the waste ,if a fly spray that area..works for me
Skitch
Here in Oklahoma, the seed ticks hatch out in late july and are so small, they are hard to see. I bet that's what you got into. Perminone works best for them.
If you got into them dadgum seed ticks the only thing you can do if they bit you is ride out.
I feel for you bud LOL them buggers are nasty.
The last time I forgot to use permanone and I found those little ticks on me I rushed home and dusted myself in seven dust waited about five minutes and took a hot shower.
Better to get the permanone and be ready to begin with
We always waited till after a VERY HARD frost before going to south jersey(chigger country around here) the itch that keeps on moving LOL
I will still bet it was chiggers. The sandy parts of my property are full of them. Went out in shorts a few weeks ago like an idiot. Had one 6 inch section of my leg with over 50 bites. Permanone does wonders. I have been spraying much more that a gator area, but that sounds pretty convenient. Just won't help if you decide to sit, then you will gets bites at the waistline.
Get some Tea Tree Oil to put on the bites. That works wonders.
I have always used "Clear Nail Polish" for the After Effects. Smothers the little Creatures!! :thumbsup: Gonna have to try Permanone, sounds like Good Stuff! I usually just use "Deep Woods Off", the Dry Kind is the Bomb! Especially for Wee Ones! :goldtooth:
Chiga-Rid the best out there. Permanone to prevent and Chiga-Rid if you forget the Permanone.
The other pluses about using Permanone, Permathrin, etc. is that it is nearly odorless once dry. It does not eat bow finishes, vehicle clearcoats, plastics, fly line, and watch faces like deet based repellants do. It lasts about two weeks on your clothes, even through washings if applied correctly.
best ways to get rid of them once gotten, clorox does the job fast feel the burn, kerosene about the same white vinegar no burn but will kill them , clorox hurts but no faster way do I know to rid yourself of the itch!!!!get em bad in Bama, thanks for tips on prevention like to hear a few more.
I spray Deep Woods Off on my bare skin from my knees to my toes, put on my socks, spray them with Off. Then I put on my bibs and longsleeve shirt, both sprayed with permanone, or similar. Anything that gets into my rubber boots gets to deal with permanone and/or deet. After a frost or two, I just use permanone for the ticks. A deer isn't going to smell my Off while upwind of me. If it smells my Off, it's downwind and would smell me anyway. I hate to itch!!!!!
Everything mentioned so far is very good, but don't spray bug spray on your skin that is meant for your clothes, Badgers anti-bug spray is very good for a clothes spray and excellent for your skin, it's even O.K. for kids. Since I have been using this I never get any chiggers or ticks. I spray my socks, above the boot and even with shorts on I never get them, try it, you'll like it.
Now that you have them, use an antibiotic cream for a few days and that will get rid of them.
Hope you feel better.
have not had the pleasure of chigs this yr yet - I just do not even stress em anymore, wear knee high rubber boots with trousers tucked and no sprays and the such. Just suck up what ever I get.
WOw...all great suggestions. Thanks for the input guys! Looks like i'm about to invest in some permanone! I'll check out some of the other suggestions too. Hell I might even buy some pantyhose!!(knee socks) This itch is sure a P.I.the A! I'll try the antibiotics first..then go for the bleach etc if it gets too bad.
I do remember painting my legs with clear nail polish when I was in my teens and used to get eaten up. Also remember a lot of the pink stuff.
Thanks again! I really hope there are no seed ticks happening! Had a few of the regular ticks a few weeks ago and those are no fun.
It is a misconception that chiggers bury into the skin and stay there. So all the nail polish/alcohol type remedies aren't killing the chiggers. They may relieve some of the itching in some way, but it isn't by smothering or killing the chiggers.
Usually a good coating of regular old deep woods off works pretty well for me against chiggers. It's useless against ticks though, so the permethrin suggestions are probably a good bet. The only draw back is you shouldn't spray it directly on your skin, and I usually wear shorts in the summer - snakes, bugs, and briars be damned.
Get some rynoskin. What can't reach your skin can't bite you. For stinging insects like moskitos wear a shannon bugtamer over it.
Permathrin before and long fingernails after.
My grandmother-inlaw told me to rub salted pork on them after. It works.LCH
QuoteOriginally posted by Hoyt:
Permathrin before and long fingernails after.
:clapper:
Ditto for the RhynoSkin. In addition I also use the Perma thirin soak for outerwear. For flies, no-seeums, and skeeters, I use a ThermaCell.
This year, I have started to condition myelf with MSM. It is in my Glucosamin and Chondroitin supplement. It is a type of sulphur, which is supposed to permeate out from your skin after you've been taking it for 2-3 months. It is supposed to repel all sorts of bugaboos. I am on day 19, in preparation for the October 1st bow opener. We shall see.
Test any spray before covering your skin or clothing to make sure you aren't allergic to it.
One canoe trip, my brother noticed a few chiggers and sprayed himself from toes to neck. I never seen anyone swell up like that, he had to pry one eye open to see his way down to the canoe. We were off to the hospital after I paddled that night to the next bridge.
Put a little on your wrist for a day and see what happens.
Post bite... clear fingernail polish works better than any of the poor choices left to you.
I read or heard somewhere that a remedy for fire ants was to mix powder meat tenderizer with water to make a paste. Place it on the bites for 30 minutes. Wash off and repeat.
Can't remmeber where though. It might work for curing the ungodly itch of chigger bites.
What is the best way to tell from the bite symptoms whether they are chigger bites or seed ticks?
X2 on the clear fingernail polish, and X2 on the fact that they don't burrow under the skin.
Don't know why or how it works, but the nail polish immediately soothes the itch and lasts all day for me.
Never seen a chigger and only two ticks in my life both were on my dogs. Live in central NY I know there are ticks to the east but don't seem to be where I hunt. I think I am glad after reading this post.
Years ago, I use to hunt the eastern shore of Maryland, the chigger capital of the world. One time, I had over 300 bites on one leg alone. I was lit up! That was the most misrible 2 weeks of my life! Evil, pure evil, those little suckers....
Like others have said, peranone your clothes and wear long pants tucked into rubber boots. It's a good combo that keeps them at bay. Best way to deal with them is to prepare for them in the first place. Pantyhose and nail polish are for the womenfolk. Rubber boots and peranone are your friends and you get to keep your man card....bonus!
QuoteOriginally posted by pavan:
What is the best way to tell from the bite symptoms whether they are chigger bites or seed ticks?
Chiggers, if magnified, look like seed ticks. They emit emzymes which immediately kill skin cells and they then feed off the dead skin. Seed tick usually stay attached and suck blood. Seed ticks are about 10 times the size of chiggers. The chiggers around here make you look like you have specks of red dust on your skin as they crawl around. After feeding, they release from their host and lay eggs for the life cycle to continue.
I'd rather be bitten by seed ticks than chiggers.
If you have scattered red bumps that's more than likely chiggers. On me the bites swell up like a poison ivy pustule.
Post red bug bite I used the shampoo for head lice like a lotion, effective, let it sit a bit then shower off. No matter what treatment itch takes several days to dissipate for me.
Best is to avoid the little buggers. Permanone on my socks, snake boots, shirt and pants keeps all of those critters off me. We have a few on the coast of SC.
QuoteOriginally posted by maxwell:
Never seen a chigger and only two ticks in my life both were on my dogs. Live in central NY I know there are ticks to the east but don't seem to be where I hunt. I think I am glad after reading this post.
You can't see chiggers....unless you have a microscope.
very informative link...
http://www.medicinenet.com/chiggers_bites/discussion-918.htm
It sounds like the nail polish, et all remedies that keep air from getting to the bite to relieve the itching.
Maybe we have some big ones in bama because on a sunny day barely see the little red specks moving around especially on white concrete or wood with a good growth of weeds on either side,but yes is possible to see them not easy though.
Listerine Is what a friend from south jersey swears buy poured on or dabbed on (minty fresh LOL)to releave the itch I was chicken any went to the DR and got a shot to prevent the itching from driving me crazy
(I beleave an anti-histamine )
Scarne..that ws a great link...if you click on the "back to chiggers" link it gives some great info. Thanks! Looks like about everything recommended here is on there! Maybe not the dousing of ones body with SEVEN dust!!!! Although the damn itching could lead one to try just about anything.
Thanks everyone for the help. Hope it helps others that find themselves infested!
That article says they don't bite in weathere below 60 or above 99...I beg to differ. It's been pretty darn hot here in OK and I definitely got more than a few bites!
I never go in the swamps without spraying around ankles and waist line with bug spray.Deer spooking smell or not hunting ain`t fun if you are itching to death.RC
I use permethrin the insecticide that exterminators will use sometimes. .5% solution sprayed onto clothes and let it dry. About the best insect repellant I know of.
Hey Skitch your right about that, these chiggers around here can't read the thermometer!!!
I use Adams Flea Mist spray for Ticks, it works very well. They jump off and stay off. I used to hunt Long Island in the early season and it was not unusual to have several hundred ticks on you if you didn't spray yourself down.
When I used the spray I would remain tick free.
It should work on chiggers too.
Don't get it on your bow or anything else with a paint-stain finish. Once dry it is not a problem.
Mike
Permanone is very effective. Spray your clothes, including pants, socks, SNAKE boots and shirt. I turn my pants inside out and spray the inside also. Let the clothes dry before you wear them. Permanone can be very irritating to the skin, so don't spray it directly on yourself.
However, if you get a bunch of bites, get ready for some torment. I have never found a remedy that really works for very long but have tried about all of them mentioned so far. About as good as any is the vodka application - taken internally.It doesn't cure the itch, but after a while, you just don't care anymore.
Ive never even gotten a chigger before. I guess they just like them yanks that come down and try kill our pigs.