I am looking for any tips, besides tuck the pants into the socks...to keep ticks off my girlfriend. We are headed out next week and she is deathly afraid of ticks....have all my gear treated in Permethrin and will advise her to stay out of the long grass...but wondering if anyone has any more tips or tricks?

Thanks in advance!

BW

Some people spray their pants with permethrin, or purchase outerwear that is permethrin treated . Other than what you are doing, frequent "tick checks" is all I'd add.

I assume that you'll have a fine-tip tweezer or a specialty tick removal tool in case a tick does attach itself.

This is what I carry, I keep it in my wallet. The ticks in SE Wisconsin have been active for at least a month. This device removes them easily, however it is a little pricey for what it is - it was $6 or $7.00.

Make sure your tent is large enough. You need to do a complete "tick check" each night. Work this to your advantage...

A small tent can work too!

This is what I use, treated with permithern and I retreat them once or twice a year. I spent 50 nites in the BW last summer, I never had a tick, but the BWCA Rangers I worked with got many.
LYME EZ Tick Gators.

I dilute permethrin and spray our clothes/hats/boots (minus undies and socks) I really concentrate on the ends of the clothing (neckline/end of sleeves/waist/ankles) been doing this for quite a few years and haven’t had any issues, and seems to help with the skeeters too! We hammock camp and I have sprayed our straps before also

Sawyer Permethrin Spray. I use the pump spray bottle. They have it at Dick's, REI,
Scheels and other sporting goods stores. I hang my clothes on a clothesline at a time with the least amount of wind I can get. Spray the clothes (socks too) until they slightly drip. The application lasts 42 days or 6-7 washings. We have been doing this the last few years. We have found almost no ticks. It does seem to help with the mosquitoes too. I haven't been there during blackfly season. So I can't speak to those.

LindenTree: "This is what I use, treated with permithern and I retreat them once or twice a year. I spent 50 nites in the BW last summer, I never had a tick, but the BWCA Rangers I worked with got many.
LYME EZ Tick Gators. "

Looks great
Also it looks like it will hold your pant legs tight to the skin. So important to keep them from crawling up the legs inside your pants.

Ticks love to settle just below the beltline so I spray with deet on my skin just below and around my beltline. I use permethrin on clothes and deet on skin in tick country, also 12 inch rubber boots, tick don't like to climb and heavily sprayed with permethrin each trip.

I know deer ticks are starting to show up in the BWCA,but I think still 99% wood ticks.
Maybe some of you can comment on species you found.

Yes, had Lyme disease twice, in heavy deer tick country around Brainerd here. We did not have deer ticks until bout 1992. The east side of Mille lacs had them earlier.

Tuck your pants into your socks if you are really worried. A fresh coat of deet on your legs at portages can help too. I was just in the Brainard area last week and we were picking off dozens of ticks every day. None attached though. We were in the woods turkey hunting so I doubt it would be as bad on portages and in campsites. They are bad this year though.

Our system to keep ticks off us was to tuck our base layer, long underwear, into our socks and the same with our shirt into our pants. This way the ticks that are crawling upward can't get under your clothes and you have more time to find them and get rid of them before they attach. Tighter fitting clothes are better than baggier. Once I secured my outer layer over my boots, I had a lot less ticks get in between layers.

Bring a fine tooth comb. You will want to be able to comb through your hair and dislodge ticks before they attach. You will want to check often as well since it is much easier to pick them off your pant leg than in your hair. You also want to avoid going through too much brush/long grass as well. Ticks will climb into underbrush and grass to grab on to things that pass by. Deer for example. So if you stay on the trail and out of the grass, you might not see any.

One other thing that worked for us but will be hard to replicate in the BWCA was using heat to kill any that stayed on our clothes after we took them off. We put them in the dryer for 10 minutes and any tick we found after that was shriveled and dead. You should change often though and hang the clothes that could have ticks away from your tent. In fact, you shouldn't even bring clothes you suspect might have ticks on them into the tent/house at all.

A lot of this is not intended for the BWCA, but is general practice. I take ticks pretty seriously. My dad's friend we were hunting with last week lost 75% of his vision in his dominant eye due to lyme disease. They do say though that it can take 24-48 hours to transmit lyme disease, so you do want to remove any tick that does attach as soon as possible. Other diseases can be transmitted in less time.

I soak my boots, boxers, pants, socks, shirt, and hat in Permethrin and it has always worked with nearly 100% effectiveness. Tick check once nightly before bed as well.

Sawyer permethrin is safe on dogs fur too, so I along with his flea/tick/heartworm, he gets a good rubdown before our trips. I also soak his harness.

Application on clothes is key though, make sure to get a good layer on and don't do it in the wind. I lay it all out on the garage floor, soak thoroughly the night before we leave, and it's dry by morning.

AlexanderSupertramp: "I soak my boots, boxers, pants, socks, shirt, and hat in Permethrin and it has always worked with nearly 100% effectiveness. Tick check once nightly before bed as well.


Sawyer permethrin is safe on dogs fur too, so I along with his flea/tick/heartworm, he gets a good rubdown before our trips. I also soak his harness.


Application on clothes is key though, make sure to get a good layer on and don't do it in the wind. I lay it all out on the garage floor, soak thoroughly the night before we leave, and it's dry by morning.
"

I'm all in on the Sawyer permethrin. That said ,,,, "Boxers?". I don't like stuff that close to my "boxers".

As far as ticks are concerned I've easily picked up 30x more in southern MN fields running my dog than I have ever had in the BWCA. Thats just my observation not an endorsement to recklessness.

Does anyone know the general timeline of ticks in the BWCA? As in, when are they most prevalent, when do they die back, etc.
I am heading into the BDub the first week of September and while I always try to stay vigilant, when should we all stay "extra aware"?

fun4dad2: "Does anyone know the general timeline of ticks in the BWCA? As in, when are they most prevalent, when do they die back, etc.
I am heading into the BDub the first week of September and while I always try to stay vigilant, when should we all stay "extra aware"?"

We go third or fourth week of September in the Gunflint area. We have never seen a tick