Need a little info

[Ian M]

Just got back from a SE Texas hunt. Good hunt but I got a bit more than I expected. Chiggers and a couple of ticks. Was told there wasn't any bugs but that was not exactly correct.

One tick was not embedded, removed easily with a tweezer. Other tick was almost flush with skin, I tried to move its outward portion and the **** thing burst blood. I know, I should have put some vaseline or something over him so he backed out, was going to but the little booger just popped. Found an old bottle of iodine, put lots on the location. Bled pretty good for a while, guite and I put more iodine on, then a heavy coat of antiseptic cream. No sign of infection, not sensitive - hopefully the head came out - how do you know if it did?

Also got a very nice batch of chiggers. No bugs at all during the hunt. Must have really got into them on the last afternoon. Showered twice before heading to airport, evening and am - did not get rid of the little rascals tho. No itching or bites on the plane, but when I got home I showered again and that evening got about fourty bites. Could see some, picked them off with tweezers and did the sticky tape trick. They came off easy. Then I bathed in a really hot tub with a bunch of Clorox bleach in the water - took much of the itching away but next am found two or three more of the little turds.

Would like to learn more about these biting insects. Have had the odd tick and very odd chiggers, usually have more problems with cactus thorns and sand burrs etc.

Ticks were very small, black or dark colored. Chiggers about barely big enough to see, way smaller than the ticks. Going back next month, any suggestions how to keep bug free. Showered in dog flea shampoo at one ranch one time, works good. Any other ideas?

Gotta go, getting itchy again /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[HRstretch]

When little the chiggers would line up at the gate waitng for me. My Dad always made me eat sulfor tablets a couple of days before we went to the pasture.

I got into chiggers really bad one summer and our local pharmicist had me get a presciption for head lice and said to just dab a little on the tip of my finger and touch each spot. Man, did that really work. I had about two or three hundred bites and within just a few hours they were mostly dead. The next mourning trated the remaing bites and had no more trounle.

 

[Buffalobob]

Spray mosquito repellent around your sox and pants cuff(inside and outside of the pants cuff).

 

[tdv75098]

The best way to prevent ticks and chiggers is to go to the drug store and buy some sulphur powder. Then pour it into an old athletic sock and tie it closed (store it in a used bread sack). When you get to the field, take the sock and beat it all over your legs (with your pants down) to include your crotch and then all over your torso. After applying the sulphur, use Deet spray and spray it heavily around your socks and your waist and any other clothing opening. Years in the military training in South Texas taught me well. Remember the worse you stink, the less bugs you will have. After you get chiggers, soak in a swimming pool or a bathtub for a long time, then apply hydrocortisone cream to the affected areas to heal them and stop more itching. If the tick bites develop a bullseye around them, see your Dr immediately. I have also suffered greatly from tick fever! It still affects my joints to this day. Good luck in the future. Tom

 

[41mag]

Ian,

+1 on the spray. We have used just about everything mentioned here and still get a few every now and again. There is some stuff out which contains Permethrin, and you apply it to your clothes only. It will last for probably your whole trip and then some. Spray it on let it dry and your all set.

This past fall we used some stuff called No Stinking Bugs , and found it worked pretty decent. IT was a little expensive, but when you are up close and personal with the deer you need something which they don't alarm to. THis stuff worked well even with deer as close as 15' from us. It kept the mosquitoes off as well as the other crawly critters. Since I had the grandson with me on every hunt, I had to make sure he was protected from the crawlies.

As for a general spray we use Deep Woods Off. We generally just do a complete spray over as the little bugers will be at unknown levels of the vegitation. Spray from head to foot and especially around the openings of clothes, and around the sock tops.

I can relate to everything said about the bleech and have taken bathes using a rag soaked in bleach to wash with. Once they are buried up though thee is really nothing that will get them. Best thing is to shower as soon as you get in from being out, and scrub with a course wash rag. This will remove them from their attachment and rid you of most that might slip through. We still get a few and I have just accepted the fact that it is part of the outdoor experience. I don't have to like it, but in nature some things are just that way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif THe sulfur thing works as well, been there done that hundereds of times in my youth. The tablets have a drawback though especially if your in a confined area for prolonged periods of time without the ability to roll down a window. Combined with a couple of adult beverages and your setting yourself and friends up for some real memorable experiences. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

What the heck are "chiggers"?? Never heard of them. THe south is full of goodies aint it?? Ha ha, all them snakes and spiders and scorpions, alligators, hot weather, nasty little bugs. One more reason for me not to ever wanna live down south!!

 

[Buffalobob]

One other thing is that there will be a lot on your clothes and boots and they get off and crawl around in your truck or wait until you put your clothes on the bedroom floor and then visit you later that night.

If you come dragging suitcase full of them home, your wife will have a few words to say to you.

 

[James H]

I agree with Buffalobob make sure the repellent has DEET in it.
I am an Agronomist and farmer and am in the field in mosquito infested areas every day during the summer I use Sportsmans Deep Woods OFF as I prefer the smell of it to the other OFF products.

James

 

[keithcatfish]

For ticks and mosquiots, repellent with DEET is best. If you get chiggers, a little dab of clear nail polish on each of your bites will kill the chigger that is living under your skin.

 

[redbone]

To get an tick off wright . take an lighter or match put the fire to the ticks but , the heat will make the tick to let go then .

to tack care of the seed ticks or the chiggers take your an bath with bleach water . or put bleach on a wash cloth then wipe down . because they are to small to pick off .



Redbone


PS you see alot of chickens or ginnie around people house in the south because they will eat insects bugs ticks chiggger seed ticks .

 

[James H]

Chiggers

Interesting information from the University of Ohio.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2100.html

 

[redbone]

Re: Chiggers

Need to read .

James H post from ohio U

 

[Jimm]

Re: Chiggers

Yeah , we got them boogers here too !

Not really a problem though , just drink beer then the boogers get drunk and fall off . You have to do this outside so they wont fall of in the house cuz then the morning they will have a hangover and be really ****ed and bite you a lot more if they find you .!!

Thats why you see southerners standing around a campfire drinking beer in the evening . They dont want to get the wife infected and being the gentlemen we are ............. as Roy In Idaho once said " its the rollin laffer for sure "

JIm B.