What is your experience with it? I'm literally a "tick magnet",is it safe? How do you use it? I bought a can this afternoon, but the warning label is a little scary sounding, LOL. Any help is appreciated.

I use Sawyer's permethrin. I spray it on hunting clothes or outdoor work clothing and let it dry. It's very effective at keeping ticks off me.

What Lugnut said.

We have it at work in Baxter state park.

There was a thread about it not long ago:

Permethrin Thread

…. Repels mosquitos too

Take all outdoors clothes and hang them outside and spray the entire outside down.
Let dry.
I’ll take my pants and turn them inside out and spray from the knees down.
Let dry.
Fold all clothes or hang when done. I hit mine before turkey season and before archery season. They last a whole heap of washings.

I’m afraid of it. Highly toxic to small dogs and cats. Causes seizures

Maybe but there's a mixing ration on the label for animals. Dogs and poultry is the same ratio which is much lighter than what you use on clothing.

Quite useful product but use with care around pollinators, particularly honey bees.

In the pyrethroid class of synthetic pyrethrum, pyrethrum being a botanical extract of pyrethrum daisy.

Permethrin is formulated as a long lasting and durable residual insecticide, hence the name from permanent.

I'm more afraid of all the bad things ticks can do to you. I have been using it for many years without any bad things happening to me. It works better than anything on the market. i mix my own up from what I buy at Rural King. It is much cheaper than the premix in cans.

I use it as a ground drench in the beeyard for small hive beetle. It does double duty for ant control as well.

Apply it at night with a sprinkler can to avoid drift onto the bees or as a pretreatment before moving bees onto a yard. Best results if grass is cut short and raked to get good soil contact.

The labeled product for SHB is guardstar but I use the generic permethrin.

When I was young I sprayed it on my skin. Sprained my turkey hunting cloths this year and they were still damp when I put them in. Probably not smart but I walked miles and zero ticks .

So using it not how it's labeled has not hurt me. Using it as labeled letting it dry you should be extra supper safe and tick free

I made a living working in the woods and brush for 40 years. It is the most effective tick remedy I have ever used. 99.9% effective. Although I don't think its advertised or recommended for "red bugs"/"chiggers", I have found it to be nearly 100% on those evil little critters as well.

I have never taken any special precautions when using it. Usually, I spray the exterior of my clothes and boots while I am wearing them. NEVER had a symptom or indication of a reaction. I can't say the same for DEET either in effectiveness or my body's response to an application.

If it's bad for bees will it contaminate other clothing in the wash. I was not going to wear hunting clothing to work bees but sure don't want my other pants I didn't treet to kill bees when I'm working them and not realize it's because of the wash.

I buy the concentrate for cattle. I mix it according to the label for dogs and poultry. I spray my dogs, their kennels and my clothes. Also I spray it around the yard and trees all the way up to the tops with a Stihl back pack sprayer. No ticks or bugs for me.

I don't spray my clothes so I can't say specifically but my understanding is once dry it's pretty stable. Never noticed an issue using it in the beetard.

yes once dry it is safe

it binds to the fibers

when it is liquid it is a fish killer , but once dried to clothing isn't even if you take a swim

if is a neuro toxin but not one human skin absorbs and in it's dry state not likely absorbed


mix up the label directions for use on a dog or cow , common use of veterinary permethrin

13.3% is 1 ounce per gallon for this use typically

you hang your outside cloths on a fence or line and soak them down with a pump up garden sprayer , you can soak them in a bucket wearing gloves then hang to dry

I don't do under garments

pants , loose fitting long sleeve shirts , hats and spray your boots

you can also use the same spray to spray your dog kennel , around the house , around your shooting bench

It is supposed to survive intact through several washings so I assume it doesn't wash off or transfer.

Yes, the pyrethroids are nuerotoxins disrupting the chemical transfer channels.

Apistan, tau-fluvalinate, was the first available miticide for treating varroa mite in bee colonies. The specific chemical it targeted is lacking in honey and bumble bees making it safe for bees. Unfortunately varroa developed resistance to it.

Pyrethroid resistance is a common issue in many species of pests.

Products like Sawyer only contain .5% Permethrin and cost anywhere from .50 to a dollar/ounce. Go online and get a 32 oz bottle of Martin’s Permethrin SFR for about $1.25/ounce. SFR basically means it is 36.8% Permethrin. Where I went to school, the mix of 1 oz of SFR Permethrin to 24 oz water, would yield a content of 1.47% Permethrin( almost 3 times content of Sawyer). At this same ratio, the 32 oz bottle will make 6 gallons of mix. Or, put 6 2/3 oz of Permethrin SFR in a gallon jug, top off with water, and you have a 2% content. I soak my pants in this, and they claim it’s good for a few washes. 3 1/3 oz per gallon of water yields 1% and will take care of a lot of fire ant beds.

I use the sfr 36.8 at 2 ounce per gallon of water.
Spray my pants until it runs off. Let dry and swear by it.
After 2 rounds of lymes I am a faithful user,

If it works that good, wonder how long it will be until its by prescription only ?

Have been using permethrin that you get from feed stores 1 Oz in 5 gals water totally dunk clothes in bucket hang to air dry fold up place in large plastic bag good to go

Dosage does matter !

On a Friday a guy noticed his old barn cat was not acting right and was worried about him as he was the ringleader of a bunch of farm cats. He called the local vet and upon explaining the cats symptoms to him, the vet said it sounded like he was constipated. The vet said he had to catch a flight in a little bit to go to a wedding and couldn't come out. He told him to go a head and give him 1 pint of mineral oil. The guy said, but Doc ain't that an awful lot. Doc said now listen, I've been doctoring animals 40 yrs and I know what I'm doing. Doc said he had to leave but would be back Monday and would check on him.
The hard of hearing Doc gets back on Monday and gives the farmer a call and asks him how the calf is doing. WHAT, he ain't no calf he is a cat. OH MY, well how is the cat doing?
Farmer replies, he acts younger and more active than he has been in years. He has 3 digging holes, 2 covering up and 1 searching for new territory !

I remember during the buildup, and desert storm in early 90’s

Permethrin was sold out every where,,couldn’t find any

Apparently there’s a lot of bugs over in the sand and the national guard folks were going store to store buying it all

Could only find OFF

Worst ever Turkey season for tick bites,,,,,,

Huge believer in permethrin for tick protection!!!

Never spray it on your skin. I spray it on my work pants and shoes when I'm in the woods. It works better than Deet, IMO.

Sawyer’s might only be 0.5% Permethrin but is very effective at that percentage. I don’t know why you would want to take a chance with adverse health effects by mixing it stronger, there’s no need.

sand flees

they were also buying up dog flee collars and using them on their ankles just above their boots

most of the flee collars are plastic with permethrin incorporated.

The oils in your skin netrulize Permethrin . Use Deet on skin and Permethrin on clothing.

Permethrin 5% cream has been available for human use for scabies by prescription only for probably over 20 years.

You can buy it in the clothing & it's good for like 70 washes. Easier/safer than an aerosol spray. I don't know if they make it in pants but I've seen it in shirts.

Thanks for that tip for use in the bee yard. We're supposed to get a lot of rain thru the weekend, but after it dries out I'm going to try it. I spray my clothes for ticks anyway so I already keep it around. I was going to try diatomaceous earth for around the hives but the permethrin will be a bunch cheaper.

We used in Nam !

Well Foxpaw, nobody else commented but know this; I enjoyed your very insightful contribution to this tread.

I sprayed my pants,long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and the top part of my Muck boots. Going turkey hunting in the morning and I will spray everything including myself with Deep Woods Off. Thanks for all the comments, I will report back tomorrow after I get home and do a "full body" tick search, LOL.