They’re back.

[woodjin]

Well, it’s official. Chiggers are out. Confirmed case.

 

[woodjin]

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[Boyd]

They were really bad here this spring (but what I had was definitely baby ticks, not chiggers, as we have discussed before). Have not seen any recently, although I got a few new bites from something the other day.

 

[MuckSavage]

Thanks for the warning. I'll be camping at Hawkins this weekend. Noted to stay in the middle of the trails. (And my Captain Ron's bug spray is scheduled to arrive Monday) Ugh.

 

[Teegate]

Haven’t had them yet. But I do have spray in my bag in the event it happens.

 

[RJG]

September has always been the worst month for me with chiggers. All you have to do is brush up against the wrong blade of grass and you’ll have a clump of them appear on your pants.

 

[Teegate]

If you do a good job spraying your pants before heading into the woods, that usually seems to work. However, we usually constantly look until we see them and then spray. Not always a good idea as we miss seeing them often.

 

[RJG]

I generally avoid hiking in places where I’m going to rub up against weeds, grass or brush in Sept/Oct. I pretreat my pants and trail runners with permethrin, but then I carry it with me and incase I look down and see a sea of chiggers/tick larvae crawling on me.

I know more people who have gotten Lyme disease in the past two years than I have in the previous 20 years, and their symptoms have been worse.

 

[Boyd]

I pretreat my pants and trail runners with permethrin, but then I carry it with me and incase I look down and see a sea of chiggers/tick larvae crawling on me.

What brand of permethrin are you using? AFAIK, they are all only intended to pre-treat fabric and you are supposed to let it dry before wearing. I never handle that stuff without wearing rubber gloves myself. This is from the Sawyer's box

IMO, if you want to be able to directly spray them you should use a DEET-based product (I don't like using DEET myself).

 

[Teegate]

The warnings are there to spray and let dry before wearing but not everyone follows that. I find that Off works best on chigger ticks anyway so that is all we use in the late summer and fall.

 

[bobpbx]

While I also do the overnight deal, I still spray permethrin on my pants right before I walk into the woods.

 

[RJG]

What brand of permethrin are you using? AFAIK, they are all only intended to pre-treat fabric and you are supposed to let it dry before wearing. I never handle that stuff without wearing rubber gloves myself. This is from the Sawyer's box

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IMO, if you want to be able to directly spray them you should use a DEET-based product (I don't like using DEET myself).

I use Sawyer. Maybe once a year I’ll find myself in a situation where I spray it directly on my clothes/shoes while I’m hiking. I normally just pretreat my clothes and shoes. But you’re correct. You shouldn’t spray it on your clothes while you’re wearing them and never on your skin.

Honestly, I don’t like to use any chemical insect sprays or chemical sunscreens. I generally try to protect myself from insects and excessive sun by covering up. Permethrin, deet and sunscreens are toxic poisons that are being absorbed into our bloodstreams through our skin. I’m actually hiking on some dirt roads in the pines today. No insect repellent or sunscreen, just a hat and a head net to keep the annoying deer flies off my head, face and neck.