Savanna State Park backpacking trip, Memorial Day 2010

[BC]

Ive recently been using permethrin treatment on clothing instead of hosing myself with DEET.  Works very well.  Cabelas and REI sells some wash-in stuff and also some spray on stuff- its made by Sawyer.

DEET is only effective against mosquitoes.  Permethrin is effective against most bugs- not only as a repellent- but it actually kills the buggers!!!  Permethrin applied to clothing will last 6 weeks or so, even with washing (30-40 times).  So I hose clothing, tents, etc with permethrin, and then spot apply DEET to hands, face, etc.

[Pete]

I'll have to look into that BC.


One thing you guys might not have that we do, is ticks.  DEET is a must to keep the ticks away.  Wood ticks aren't the end of the world if they bite you, but deer ticks are.  I had an acquaintance in high school get Lyme disease from a deer tick nymph, and it wasn't pretty.  It basically put him on his ass for almost a year before he started to get his strength back.  I found an adult deer tick on Sam's pants last weekend, and that did it for me.

[DannyBoy]

Ive recently been using permethrin treatment on clothing instead of hosing myself with DEET.  Works very well.  Cabelas and REI sells some wash-in stuff and also some spray on stuff- its made by Sawyer.

DEET is only effective against mosquitoes.  Permethrin is effective against most bugs- not only as a repellent- but it actually kills the buggers!!!  Permethrin applied to clothing will last 6 weeks or so, even with washing (30-40 times).  So I hose clothing, tents, etc with permethrin, and then spot apply DEET to hands, face, etc.

Wow, that's worth looking into.  No one wanted to hose themselves with bug spray when we were packing up Monday morning so we didn't reek (even more) on the way home but the bugs were especially bad and driving everyone nuts.

That also explains why our 30% deet general bug spray was doing better than Josh's 99% deet with the gnats.

How big are the ticks out in MN?  They can be real tiny like an ant, right?  I think I found one on my mom's couch last week after taking their dogs outside for a walk.  Didn't realize they could screw with you that bad.

[Pete]

adult wood ticks are about the size of the end of a pencil eraser (looking at the end) and pretty easy to see.  They crawl up your leg and look for a warm spot to suck some blood, usually right on your belt line.

Adult deer ticks are a little less than half the size of a wood tick.  The nymph deer ticks (the ones that give you lyme disease) are way tiny, they are around 1mm in diameter.


This scale is in cm's, the 4 stages of a deer tick.  The 3rd one is the stage to be worried about.

[BC]

Permethrin is highly effective against ticks.

[busyfixin]

I'll have to check into this Permethrin.  Sounds like good stuff!  I usually use Bens 100.  Now days its usually in a small pump spray bottle.  looks like this.  
it used to be available without the spray top, just a regular screw on lid.  i always kept it in the left chest pocket in my carhartt.  even without opening it, it was strong enough to keep them away to a point, and if they were too bad, it was right there.  i would just put a little bit on my jacket collar, wrist collars, and on my hat, and that would suffice.
The bottle i have with me now is so old its from before they went to the paper labels, and the print was on the bottle, and its pretty much all worn off from the inside of my jacket pocket.  I would guess that this bottle has lasted well over ten years so far.  As the saying goes, "a little dab'll do ya!"

Does the Permethrin smell very much?

[Ben]

I'll never forget seeing Josh's sister Kelly reacting to the 100% DEET and then a week later i was watching a show about bugs in the amazon and the host was saying that they need really strong repellant for down there, 80% DEET, HAHHAHAHAHHAHA, he's fending off bugs with a body the size of a sparkplug with 80% and there's Josh with a few mosquitoes in PA and his 100%, hhahahhaha 

Does the Permethrin work for black flies? i HATE black flies, most annoying creature ever

[Ben]

Actually i was looking at that Permethrin and saw this 100% DEET made by same company, says only 4-6 drops per application! Better watch that stuff Josh!
http://www.rei.com/product/799529

[busyfixin]

That must be pretty much the same stuff as the "Bens"  its also 98.11%.  thats the type of cap I would buy on the Bens.  just loosening the cap and squeezing some of the air out of it while inside my pocket was usually enough to keep them away.  or like i said, a couple drops on the collar, hat, and arm collars.  that way, it never even contacts your skin.

[Pete]

Actually i was looking at that Permethrin and saw this 100% DEET made by same company, says only 4-6 drops per application! Better watch that stuff Josh!
http://www.rei.com/product/799529

That's the stuff Nate put me onto, says it's the best.  The 100% DEET stuff seemed to work pretty damn well this weekend.  I put a spray on my hands, up and down both lets, arms, back of my neck, and then a 2nd spray on the top of my hat.  The bugs left me alone!

[busyfixin]

holy crap!!! why not just shower in it?!?!?!?

[Pete]

tempting, but I'll pass

[Jen]

Permethrin is derived from flowers, so it doesn't smell too badly. It's used in RAID and certain ant traps, as well as over the counter flea and tick products (think Hartz, but sidebar, it doesn't work real well for flea and tick products on animals and can be toxic in high doses to dogs and cats but cats are especially sensitive to it). Works very well as a bug repellent and it does kill them which is why it's used in RAID.

Also, ticks are nasty ass buggers. Lyme disease is totally suck-o, and certain ticks also can cause Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and in dogs, babesiosis which can cause anemia and be fatal, and erllichiosis. Dogs can get Lyme disease and RMSF too, so if you take your dogs camping or in the woods, use Frontline or Advantix which both kill fleas and have a broader spectrum for ticks (Frontline kills deer ticks, brown dog ticks, American dog ticks, & lone star ticks, and Advantix repels and kills all of those too. With both products the tick does not have to bite for them to work).

[busyfixin]

Good info to know.  Thanks!