YEeeooww!

OK first, ticks can be warded off, but not totally eliminated, by rubbing cuffs and waistbands and socks with lye soap laced with clove oil. Yep, clove oil, not cinnamon or anything else, just clove oil. GET the ticks off in less than 24 hours. The sooner the better, to prevent Lyme disease. It's nasty and not so easy to get rid of.

Skeeters tend to keep off you if you take about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar each morning, and start a few days before you go out. If you smell it a bit when you sweat, your dosage is right.

Bug bites that itch do so as the bug injects you with an anti-coagulant to keep the blood flowing. Baking soda or ammonia is a base and it counteracts the acid in the bug saliva. Baking soda and ammonia can also give some relief to bee stings and ant "bites" (stings) as they too are acids.

Poison Ivy or Oak or Sumac can lead to a very nasty infection if one scratches. The irritant is an oil, so a good soap like plain lye or a good detergeant will get rid of it on you or your clothes (cold water on you or your pores open and..., you'll be sorry. HOT water on your clothes.). Clothes exposed to the oil can cause a reaction a full year after contact.

For those really allergic, Technu brand poison ivy treatment was developed as a decon agent for powerline workers. It does an incredible job. For those not so bad off like me..., get some soap made with jewelweed. I got some at $4 a bar. Can't remember when I spent a better $4.

Google "jewelweed soap" to find said products. (I didn't put in a link as it would give you a site offering stuff for sale, and we ain't supposed to do that here. Y'all can find it with Google for sure.)

LD

One word, Permanone. It's a derivative of pyrethrum and not supposed to be harmful to humans.

It isn't historically correct, but I would rather be a little historically incorrect as become infected with who knows what.

I spray all of my clothing, blanket, and both sides of my ground ground cloth before going out in warm weather.

Safety first.
J.D.

Technu is great to wash off with right after a scrape with poison oak sure nuff.

Axe

I've always been leery of Permanone. I remember when it came out in the mid '70's. It had strong warnings about being near your face, and not eating food with your fingers. I ground hunt, and not good for scent disipline. (They thought Agent-Orange was a good idea at the time.)

BUT that was 30 years ago, and formulas, doses, and scents may change over time to improve. I haven't heard of anybody getting cancer from the stuff so I suppose it's safer than the above reference chemical defoliant. I like the natural stuff myself, plus a good overall inspection and liberal use of tweezers.

LD

hey there guys.... fels naptha soap works for light cases of poison ivy ...but after the ONW a couple years ago I learned that straight chlorine bleach will do the job too.. and if you find it around your camp just dump the bleach on the little suckers and it'll kill them right off

DISCLAIMER
Uh...., for any "tree huggers" here we're not advocating the destruction by chemical or other means of an indigenous species of flora, especially not within the confines of any local, state, or nation park or forest.
DISCLAIMER ENDS




LD

The best way to avoid all these "nasty" critters is to stay in the city!

In fact, I wish more people would stay outa the woods. Leaves more room for me and the good eatin kinda critters.

Growing up and hunting in South Carolina, you will be well acquainted with deer ticks. You can usually feel the little %$#@* crawling on you before the sink in. Chiggers are another matter. They swarm you around tall grass or straw. When you want to scratch your legs off you have met the chigger. Garlic does seem to help. Eat it for a few days before you go out. Works well for mosquitos to

The only sure way to get the tick is a through inspection by your better half,ifin ya ain't got one get one!it's great fun most a the time!

We have had a bumper crop of ticks and chiggers in TN this year. I just wonder if it has something to do with the draught that we are in?
You are right Fiddlesticks , you can feel them crawling. I can, unless they are what we call "seed ticks". They are so small you can't feel them. Heck you can barely see them. They come in swarms. They are so small you can't even use tweezers. I got covered in them once this year. I forgot to put my repellant on. This is one area I won't even try to stay 18th century. USE DEET!!!
I got chiggers a couple of times already this year. God should have used them for one of the plagues on Egypt. The pharoh would have surely let Mose's people go. LOL. What a curse those little buggers are!
Luckily I am not allergic to poison oak or ivy. I have never had a reaction to the stuff. My father was the same way.

Never heard of seed ticks,don't have any of those up here just deer ticks which are very tiny and the traditional wood ticks.