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eric40817 said:
coconut oil on your balls huh? You said your girlfriend made that for you?
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LOL, I meant she made the mix.

I just use regular Organic Coconut Oil on my junk.

It's not a great experience pulling a tick off your ****, but at least it rhymes.

Oh yeah, Lyme's can apparently be sexually transmitted as well.

Just read that.
 
MopMan's Tick Repellent Concoction: Untested

Today I mixed up an essential oil-based tick repellent based on what google taught me and what oils I had available. Here is my recipe:

Tools:
  • 2oz spray bottle
  • Glass eyedropper
  • Glass shotglass

Ingredients:
  • 5 drops cedarwood oil
  • 4 drops lemongrass oil
  • 4 drops lavender oil
  • .25 oz 151° Everclear
  • 1.75 oz water

Procedure:
Carefully drip oils into shotglass. Add Everclear to oils. Swish Everclear/oil solution around and wait one minute to ensure there is no separation and the oils are completely dissolved into the alcohol. Place water into spray bottle. Use eyedropper to add all of the alcohol/oil solution to water in spray bottle. Seal spray bottle and shake. Ready for use.

Notes:
  • The alcohol in the Everclear acts as an emulsifier, allowing the oils to dissolve into the water. I mixed the oil and alcohol first to ensure the best possible emulsion.
  • The oils themselves can have a negative effect on your working surface... I had a spill and damaged the finish on my table, so be careful! This is why I recommend an eyedropper for the transfer. Covering your surface with a work mat of some sort might also be advisable.
  • The solution turned a cloudy white color as soon as I added the oil solution to the water. Does anyone know why this is?

I will be taking this mixture out to Nockamixon State Park tomorrow and giving it a go. Last time I played Nockamixon (about a month ago) I found four ticks on my body afterward. This time, zero? We'll see if this works. Hopefully it will.
 
roggenb3 said:
First, I am not saying don't use DEET. I am saying to be cautious about using too much and treat it like the harsh chemical it is. It absorbs through your skin, and I have a hard time believing DEET in your bloodstream is NOT bad for you.

I can't find the article I was thinking of. There was some kind of large scale DEET overexposure from a factory (I wanna say it was in Europe) in like the 50s when DEET first came out. Someone did a follow up study and found a large increase in a lot of terrible things in those people's children and grandchildren (genetic defects, nervous system disorders, mental illness, etc). I wish I could find it because it was a good read. But again, that was from large overexposure, not just using bug spray. But it still made me wonder how safe DEET based things really are and how much we really understand the effects.

Here's a link to a 2009 study that questions DEETs safety:
http://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-7007-7-47
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The problem with this study is that it was done on cultured cells, not actual animals. Show me a study showing that liberal application of Backwoods Off in mice causes negative effects, then maybe I will consider essential oil crud. Until then I am sticking with my belief that unsubstantiated health risks of DEET do not outweigh​ it's proven effectiveness against ticks and misquotes, which are known to spread diseases with sometimes severe health consequences.

Also, when it comes to something like DEET, it is so ubiquitous that I am sure a lot of studies have been done. So if you can only find a couple of negative ones, that says a lot.
 
DEET melts plastic and etches glass. Enough for me to not use it when I can avoid it.
 
My wife and i took the 2 dogs for a walk here in Western Mass, 2 miles max. We had at least 50 ticks on the four of us by the end of it. Probably more counting the ones we found while on the walk. It was an eye opener. So glad to have clicked on this. Just dug up the set of oils my wife's sister sent up for some holiday of occasion a while back and mixed up two vials of:

8 drops lemon oil
8 drops peppermint oil
8 drops leaving lavender oil
Topped off with coconut oil, 85-90% of the vial

I'll report back

Curious about Nockamixon. I played there in early May and had many ticks. How'd your "test' go?
 
Last edited:
I play regularly in Indiana, all across the State, and played Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio...have spent plenty of time off the Fairways, in all kinds of tall growth, woods....usually in shorts in warm weather....I must be getting lucky, because I use Deep Woods Off and have never gotten a tick on me...
 
I don't use anything. Find a few ticks here and there, nothing too serious.

I'd rather avoid harsh chemicals when possible.
 
I have only found one tick this year that had bit me on my kneecap of all places. I find that the best defense against ticks is to stay on the fairway. My dad keeps finding at least one every other round or so but he isn't as accurate as me. I find the flies and gnats to be annoying enough to use whatever bug spray I can.
 
Results of essential oils test:

I played a very long round at Nockamixon yesterday, about 5 hours (due to large group and crowded course.) I applied MopMan's Tick Repellent Concoction periodically throughout the round. I would estimate one application every hour or so. I applied it by spraying generously on my socks and shoes; around the openings on my pants and shirt for my arms, legs, and neck; and on my hat.

I was not bothered by any insects during the round. This was a surprise for sure--gnats, flies, mosquitoes etc. may as well not have existed. I did, however, find one tick about 1/3 of the way up my calf once I got home. That was it though.

Obviously more data points will be required to make a clear determination of efficacy, but I have optimism after the first outing. I have decided also to add rose geranium oil to the blend, as the Internet deems it most effective against ticks.
 
SonicGuy said:
DEET melts plastic and etches glass. Enough for me to not use it when I can avoid it.
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Kodachrome said:
It's one of those things where the whole layman's approach is enough to convince me. I know nothing about chemistry but....yeah.
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Hampstead said:
I don't use anything. Find a few ticks here and there, nothing too serious.

I'd rather avoid harsh chemicals when possible.
Click to expand...

Ethanol will take permanent marker off of most surfaces. Lemon juice will degrade Styrofoam. You guys better steer clear of booze and lemonade :)

Seriously though, I have tried other things and nothing works as well as DEET. I think a lot of people get it mixed up with DDT, which is part of the reason it gets such a bad rap. If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where you don't need it than great for you, but I will take potential health detriments from DEET over known ones from West Nile or Lyme's any day.

Also, did you guys notice where the fella making his own mix said the essential oil damaged his working area?
 
kerplunk said:
Ethanol will take permanent marker off of most surfaces. Lemon juice will degrade Styrofoam. You guys better steer clear of booze and lemonade :)

Seriously though, I have tried other things and nothing works as well as DEET. I think a lot of people get it mixed up with DDT, which is part of the reason it gets such a bad rap. If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where you don't need it than great for you, but I will take potential health detriments from DEET over known ones from West Nile or Lyme's any day.

Also, did you guys notice where the fella making his own mix said the essential oil damaged his working area?
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Yep.

Don't worry, dihydrogen monoxide is something i am not afraid to consume.

I don't drink straight lemon juice and i don't drink pure alcohol either. Prefer beer. I won't even bother with low concentrations of a chemical if it won't work and i won't bother with high concentrations of DEET because i don't like that stuff in or on my body.

DEET isn't exactly good for you. It may not be overtly harmful, but there has been some research into short term as well as long term health effects with consistent exposure. With our MN mosquitoes and how much i like being outside, i will find another solution that works. manufactured chemicals aren't all bad and natural things can kill you. This is one of those things where i just don't want to use it, but i have no fear that i would get cancer if i did.

I might disc naked next time to make sure I'm super healthy though.


http://goop.com/is-your-clothing-toxic/
 
kerplunk said:
Ethanol will take permanent marker off of most surfaces. Lemon juice will degrade Styrofoam. You guys better steer clear of booze and lemonade :)

Seriously though, I have tried other things and nothing works as well as DEET. I think a lot of people get it mixed up with DDT, which is part of the reason it gets such a bad rap. If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where you don't need it than great for you, but I will take potential health detriments from DEET over known ones from West Nile or Lyme's any day.

Also, did you guys notice where the fella making his own mix said the essential oil damaged his working area?
Click to expand...

Any substance that puts permanent fingerprints on my smartphone screen gets a pass from me. If lemon juice did that I would indeed lay off the lemonade.
 
Kodachrome said:
Yep.

Don't worry, dihydrogen monoxide is something i am not afraid to consume.

I don't drink straight lemon juice and i don't drink pure alcohol either. Prefer beer. I won't even bother with low concentrations of a chemical if it won't work and i won't bother with high concentrations of DEET because i don't like that stuff in or on my body.

DEET isn't exactly good for you. It may not be overtly harmful, but there has been some research into short term as well as long term health effects with consistent exposure. With our MN mosquitoes and how much i like being outside, i will find another solution that works. manufactured chemicals aren't all bad and natural things can kill you. This is one of those things where i just don't want to use it, but i have no fear that i would get cancer if i did.

I might disc naked next time to make sure I'm super healthy though.


http://goop.com/is-your-clothing-toxic/
Click to expand...

For reference, the nice smelling bug repellant I have is 7% DEET, and it works very well. The "backwoods" style is 25% and works extremely well. Anything beyond that is a gimmick, IMHO. So you're talking a strong IPA or Belgian, and an occasional good liqueuer, not a shot of everclear. Not to mention topical exposure versus dumping it straight down your gullet.

And you should be careful with the dihydrogen monoxide. The amount of deaths it is responsible for every year is astounding.
 
SonicGuy said:
Any substance that puts permanent fingerprints on my smartphone screen gets a pass from me. If lemon juice did that I would indeed lay off the lemonade.
Click to expand...

Try squeezing a lemon slice and then holding a Styrofoam cup. You will get those fingerprints. Haven't tried it with a phone screen.
 
lemon is an acid so duh... you can clean metals etc but it isn't a synthetic chemical that has been created and melts plastic. you can clean flat top grills etc with lemon water no problem. lemon and lemongrass oils can give a burning sensation on the skin and are a natural antiseptic which id take over iodine I guess...
 
kerplunk said:
Try squeezing a lemon slice and then holding a Styrofoam cup. You will get those fingerprints. Haven't tried it with a phone screen.
Click to expand...

Good thing I don't disc golf with styrofoam cups. I do go disc golfing with my phone. What is your point again?
 
kerplunk said:
And you should be careful with the dihydrogen monoxide. The amount of deaths it is responsible for every year is astounding.
Click to expand...

I don't know if any studies have shown Dihydrogen Monoxide to be an addictive substance or not but I have to admit to using it. In fact I especially crave it during outdoor activities like disc golf, hiking, etc. To me it just makes these activities just that much more enjoyable. Well that's my confession for the day. I hope you all don't think any less of me. :\
 
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