Beware of Ticks: Hunter Safety & Tick-borne Disease Prevention
By Illinois Lyme Association
Tick ranges are spreading rapidly in Ilinois, and they’re found to carry Lyme disease and several other tick-borne diseases. Because of the proximity to ticks and long hours spent in wooded areas or handling the harvest, hunters are in a high-risk category for those most susceptible to encountering tick bites and tick-borne diseases.
To reduce your risk of contracting tick-borne diseases, tick protection and prevention is important for you, your family, and your pets. Here are our best tips to keep you safe.
Hunter Tick Prevention and Protection
1. Treat Your Gear.
Treat your gear and clothes with 0.5% permethrin by following the instructions on the product. Permethrin is for clothes and gear only, so avoid applying it directily to your skin.
Permetherin lasts for several washes.
Spray in well-ventilated areas and hang to dry.
See our “how-to” video for applying permethrin here.
Caution: Permethrin may cause neurological symptoms in cats when wet.
2. When You Come Inside, Check for Ticks.
A few tricks can help you spot ticks and remove them promptly:
• Use a masking-tape lint roller over your clothes to catch roaming ticks.
• Put your clothes in the dryer on the hottest setting for 10 minutes to kill ticks that might be on them.
3. Take A Shower.
While showering, continue to check for ticks. Use a mirror to look in folds, creases, and even in between your toes. Showering within two hours of coming indoors has been shown to cut your risk of contracting Lyme disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
4. Remove Ticks and Save for Testing.
If you’re bitten by a tick, remove it carefully with a pair of fine-pointed tweezers. Don’t twist it, burn it, smother it with vaseline, or use essential oils on it.
Save the tick for testing
Place it in a sealable bag with a moist cotton ball, and send it to a tick testing site.
Don’t crush it.
5. Lay Down A Permethrin-treated Sheet.
When hanging deer in a garage or shed, lay a pre-treated, permethrin-coated sheet underneath of them. As ticks fall from the deer, they’ll land on the sheet and die. Hunters can collect ticks off the harvest (wear gloves!) and Send them for tick testing or identification.
Where to send a tick for testing:
TickReport: Results in 3 days
Ticknology: Results in 24 hours
There is a fee for tick testing. Follow company directions for mailing. Tick testing is not to be used as a diagnostic, however, it is a helpful tool.
Get free tick identification through INHS Medical Entomology Lab. Visit the Lab’s website here.
If you would like a printable version of this information, download our Printable Factsheet for Hunter Safety and Tick-borne Disease Prevention.
Resources
Preventing Tick Bites on People. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/prev/on_people.html#:~:text=Showering%20within%20two%20hours%20of,for%20ticks%20after%20being%20outdoors.
