Okay, we live in the woods of Missouri and camp in the woods. Ungracefully, this tick year sucks. Worst ever.

We have tried a lot of things but this works best for us:

Ben’s works on clothes. On skin we use Wondercide. It smells good, it’s oily …ticks don’t like to crawl on oily and it works. Ticks crawl. They move fast. Pants tucked into socks and sprayed if you are on trails.

Teach yourselves to feel for the movement. It’s a good spacial awareness thing to learn anyway.

Check each other and do a full body search at night. Keep jars of dish soap and water handy to drown the live ones.

Get a Ticked Off Brand tick spoon. (It works the best)

If you get an embedded tick remove the entire vampire with a tick spoon, put colloidal silver gel on the bite right after thorough cleaning. If you are on a trail, find some plantain, masticate the leaves and apply as a poultice. You might feel like a native when you do this. Re-apply CS in morning. Some people save the embedded ticks on scotch tape with a date for further testing. That is a really good idea for grandkids (so the parents will have peace of mind.)

A lint roller is handy if you walk through a bed of seed ticks. Gets em off your clothes fast.

If you have dogs with you the ticks won’t attach if they are on monthly meds or a good homeopathic tick abatement program but they will hitch hike and want to transfer to you.

The best defense is a good immune system. Colloidal silver is a great emergency treatment both in gel form form for the cleaned wound and liquid orally for the bite (follow bottle directions for dose). Some folks say to stay with the oral part for a month or even a bit longer if you have a compromised immune system. Always check with your doctor if you are concerned.

I’m not a doctor so colloidal silver is something you will want to read about and understand how effective it can be. For camping, it’s fantastic because you start immediately. You have it on hand.

Mostly, don’t be afraid. Be smart, keep clean, do good things for your immune system. The earth is beautiful and meant to heal us. Love being outside, just be smart.

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