Jeff, I'm in Southern Illinois too, Hardin County. The ticks have been terrible this year. One of our nieces was visiting us this June. She wanted to go on a walk to look for box turtles after it rained. I told her to put on a pair of my wifes cowboy boots and tuck her pants in them. Since she is 13 and smarter than me, she left her pant legs hang over her boots. She sprayed them with repellent but after walking a ways she noticed her legs were covered with ticks. There had to be at least 20 or 30 on each leg. We got them off and walked another 50' and she was covered again. She started freaking out because she thought that if you got bit by a tick you got lyme disease. We didn't go on anymore walks in the woods after that.
Ric, sometime in July, I started treating my clothes with a permethrin repellent, Sawyers brand. I haven't had a tick on me since. And the only chigger bites have been on my arms. I watched a tick that was on my pants a few weeks ago, I saw it when it was just below the knee. By the time it got to mid thigh, it fell off. I don't venture far from the house now without my treated clothes on. It is supposed to last for 6 weeks and upto 6 washings.
Jeff
