How in the world to camp in the Midwest and avoid ticks?

H

hoyden

Lady Bug
Joined
Aug 16, 2015
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Carbondale, IL
I HATE TICKS. I mean really seriously can't stand the little buggers. I had such a wonderful time campering around the SouthWest with the worst bugs encountered were an annoyed few days of no-see-ums up at Mulay Point and the occasional scorpion sighting.

But here! Here in the buggy Midwest I've already gotten a number of itchy, scratchy bites - probably mosquito, but I wouldn't doubt in the years I was gone that some new super skeeter unfroze and is now plaguing the sweet people of this region.

A tick tried to attack Argos last week while we were at the dog park. Argos had the audacity to brush up against a tick habitat shrubbery and this little jerk climbed aboard. Luckily, I spotted him on Argos' lovely white fur while the little guy was meandering along. Buh-bye!

So, to finally get to my point: who here campers in the summer in the Midwest? HOW? It's miserably humid, buggy as H.E. double hockey sticks, and full of ticks! (yes, they get their own category)

Other than bathe all of us in DEET before leaving the house, or only campering in winter, how do you function here?!?


* I think this counts as "Trip Planning", right? Planning on how to take a trip in the buggy Midwest.... :-D
 
Wandering Sagebrush said:
Get some tick removal tweezers, pray for an unusually hard freeze!
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I have THREE (3) tick removal tweezers strategically placed in my truck, camper, and home!

I grew up in southern Illinois and didn't think much about the buggers. Then again, back then ticks weren't as prevalent and the teeny deer ticks hadn't yet crossed the Mississippi. We worried about Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever and worried a bit less about Lyme Disease. Not much was known about the latter, but the former could be taken care of by some antibiotics.

Now there are those, PLUS some kind of brain swelling deadly disease and a few other fancy ones. Eep!

I might just stay in town while it's warm (more like stay in my house in this 90+°F and 90% humidity) and only do winter campering while I'm in this region. It's that, or bathe in DEET and my mom suggests that might not be a great idea.
 
Ticks, at least, are big enough to see. For a very itchy experience, their relatives, chiggers, can be as bad or worse. In some places, you can acquire them by laying down in an innocous lawn or picking blackberries or just being kids outside. As kids, we used to paint the bites with nail polish to suffocate the critters. (Probably, considered a bad practice these days.)
Perhaps, the worst thing is that, instead of one or two ticks, you will have many chigger bites that are insanely itchy.

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombiculidae

As kids, we attacked ticks by touching a lit cigarette or a wooden match stick just blown out to the tick's rear end or painted some type of gooey stuff to the tick's body to make them back out. If you grab them with pliers or tweezers and pull, you can leave mouth parts in your skin.

Paul
 
I remember chiggers!!! Nasty teeny buggers en masse. Usually all around ankle at socks, underwear lines, etc. I spent summers painted with dots of clear nail polish, usually supplied by my grandma.

But ticks... some are also teeny. Look like a spec of dirt. Those are the deer ticks. They carry the truly scary diseases. The bigger ones, the Lone Star ticks, are the ones that carry Lymes disease.
 
From my year in Missouri (St Charles) it seemed that spring was the worst time, and long grass was where we picked up the most. It might be time to hang on the gravel bars, spend time on the Merrimack or Huzzah.
 
Used to be, tick season was only for a few weeks in the spring. Now it seems like it is all summer and the buggers are carrying a lot of nasty diseases. Mosquitos too. And don't forget the black flies, deer flies and horse flies. It can be ridiculous.

We use a screened shelter attached to the camper for respite from flying bugs when hanging around camp. For ticks you can wear long pants (tucked into your socks if you like). Best to just stay out of tick habitat which is typically tall grass or brush.

You can buy camping clothes treated with Permethrin which is very effective, if not totally environmentally benign. You can also buy the spray and do it yourself. Every night we do a tick inspection.

For the dog we used Frontline- very effective against ticks. Apply once a month. Also Heartgard for heartworm, which is carried by mosquitos.

Choosing the right campsite is key. We try not to let the bugs spoil the fun but sometimes we surrender and just find a different place to camp.
 
Black flies! Those are the ones that are especially mean! I remember swimming in our lake where I grew up and those things would come try to bite my head, so I'd go underwater and swim a ways and when I surfaced that same fly would be right there still trying to bite me! Argh!

I like the idea of a screened shelter. Hm.

and I might have to give in to the Permethrin. :unsure:
 
H.E. double hockey sticks? Made my evening. First time I heard that one. Ticks are bad on the north coast here and can be around here in the brush. My doc stays pay attention. If they attach, remove as soon as possible. Daily inspection with the evening showers.

Skeeters? Sometimes you have to add rocks to your pockets and backpack to keep from being carried away.
 
I use K9 Advantix II for my dog. Seems very effective for ticks and fleas. A bit of dermatitis on application but otherwise well tolerated. Recently I found some bite marks on my ankle. I think it may be chiggers from the dog park but while itchy its not the insanely itchy that some people report. Nail polish won't work as contrary to popular opinion they don't actually burrow under your skin.

I prefer to suffer a few mosquito bites rather than lather on the deet if they aren't too bad. I hate to put poisons on me but I will if necessary. I found a great camping site on the Tahoe NF last year. Five minutes later I was bailing out looking or another place to camp. No wonder it was empty.

My annual Antelope Lake trip is coming up. Most of the guys use OFF or something similar in the evenings. For me I switch to long pants and long sleeves and I'm fine but, I'm wondering if, given the rain we've had this year the bugs won't be much worse.

Now ticks checks aren't a bad thing. Heck we even have a song about them.
 
ski3pin said:
H.E. double hockey sticks? Made my evening. First time I heard that one. Ticks are bad on the north coast here and can be around here in the brush. My doc stays pay attention. If they attach, remove as soon as possible. Daily inspection with the evening showers.

Skeeters? Sometimes you have to add rocks to your pockets and backpack to keep from being carried away.
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You've never heard that? Ha! I was trying to remember when I picked that up. Had to have been when I was a kid. But it sure sounds like a grandpa thing, tho not my grandpa. I think I heard him say "damn!" once when he hammered his thumb, but that's about it.
 
craig333 said:
I use K9 Advantix II for my dog. Seems very effective for ticks and fleas. A bit of dermatitis on application but otherwise well tolerated. Recently I found some bite marks on my ankle. I think it may be chiggers from the dog park but while itchy its not the insanely itchy that some people report. Nail polish won't work as contrary to popular opinion they don't actually burrow under your skin.

I prefer to suffer a few mosquito bites rather than lather on the deet if they aren't too bad. I hate to put poisons on me but I will if necessary. I found a great camping site on the Tahoe NF last year. Five minutes later I was bailing out looking or another place to camp. No wonder it was empty.

My annual Antelope Lake trip is coming up. Most of the guys use OFF or something similar in the evenings. For me I switch to long pants and long sleeves and I'm fine but, I'm wondering if, given the rain we've had this year the bugs won't be much worse.

Now ticks checks aren't a bad thing. Heck we even have a song about them.
Click to expand...
I JUST LEARNED THAT ABOUT CHIGGERS TWO NIGHT AGO! I was going to add it, but got lost in the nostalgia of grandma and nail polish. :) They are even grosser than I knew! Hahahaha!

Yeah, I also don't like to put the stuff on me. Not only is it weird toxic, but you gotta shower before you go to bed - but if campering, you just end up feeling all gross a lot quicker.

That song is HILARIOUS! Leave it to country singers to sing about ticks and try'n make it sexy. That's great!
 
We've had good luck with Nexgard for our dogs. I also treat my hats with permethrin for mosquitoes. Cutter Natural works for me with most bugs too. I used to use Cutter Advanced but can't find it anymore, I suspect it must have had some pretty toxic stuff in it.

I never use DEET since it dissolves plastic which makes it tough on camera gear and fly lines.
 
hoyden said:
I HATE TICKS. I mean really seriously can't stand the little buggers. . . .
* I think this counts as "Trip Planning", right? Planning on how to take a trip in the buggy Midwest.... :-D
Click to expand...
I camp in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, March through August.

I use spray Permethrin on shoes, the top of socks, and pants legs up to the crotch for ticks (not recommended for skin). Light weight long sleeved shirt sprayed with Picaridin for ticks and mosquitoes. Picaridin can also be used on skin (although not as effective for mosquitoes as DEET). I will put DEET on skin if the skeeters are really bad, but usually retreat to protected space. DEET is not recommended as a deterrent for ticks and it will eat nylon; it also seems to be a biting fly attractant.

The beagle gets Frontline every 5 weeks, April - November. He has never had a problem tolerating it. I have not found a live tick on him in 8 years and he loves going into prime tick habitat (long grass).

For camping I try to find breezy spots or spots in sunshine. I have had good luck with 4 or 6 Citronella torches around the sitting area. Garlic does repel both wood ticks (don't know about deer ticks) and mosquitoes, but you have to eat a lot of it (more than I can tolerate).

Ammonia will stop mosquito bites from itching, you can buy it in applicators around here.

I am most concerned about deer ticks, carriers of lyme disease, because they are so small (pencil dot size).

jim
 
Just a heads up on the ticks. I have been reading that you should not smother ticks with vaseline or do anything but quickly remove them with tweezers as close to the head as possible. What happens when they get stressed is they regurgitate into your skin and that is when you get lymes or powassin. When they have fed a lot they also do that so getting them off early is important.

Also do not count on the bullet rash to determine lymes, many people do not get one.

Permethrin not only repels them but also kills them so that was good advice from Takesiteasy :)

Put your socks over your pants leg so there is not any opening and spray the shoes, socks bottom trousers. That will take care of most of them.

They will however drop from trees where they lie in wait for the odor of carbon dioxide which tells them a host is below. Then they drop on you and start the blood search. Hats are good in forests :)
 
Like others, we treat our clothing with Permethrin and use Advantix II on the dog. We treat the dogs "gear" too (bandana and a small t-shirt) when things get really bad. We start giving the dog heartworm meds once we start seeing ticks, etc. Heartworm is in the arrears as if they get bit, you have about a month to treat the animal but why risk it? The season is short here (3 months or so for heartworm, 4-5 for ticks, etc.).
 
I'm sure its partly seasonal but my vet says dogs can get heartworm year round here. The heartworm med also works on a lot of other worm type critters.

I haven't seen a flea in years. The new stuff is so much better than the bad old days of flea collars, dips, powders etc, that were only partially effective.
 
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