Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Some of y'all may not be listening to others who have been preaching about wearing DEET after having been bitten by ticks or mosquito's, and their having fallen sicker than most of us have heard about or take seriously, but let me tell you about another critter here in Arkansas who can and will make you miserable. CHIGGERS! One is bad enough, but if you intrude on their turf, it is seldom a solitary chigger that gets you. Imagine over 100. I do not have to imagine anything, except maybe relief right now.

We had a glorious day yesterday on the White river below Beaver dam. They only had one turbine turning at Beaver, but Table Rock was turning two, so we had a nice current most of the way, a solid 4-5 MPH per David's GPS. 8 of us in 7 sea kayaks - two wooden, 2 fiberglass(one of which was a two person) three plastic sea kayaks. Put on around 10AM with an airconditioning cool misty fog so thick in places we could not see 6 foot down on the water. I had put on some DEET that morning, but only around my ankles as I tend to walk through grass rather than around while loading, unloading, and running shuttle. Didn't reapply it after doffing my socks and changing into river shoes. Water was cool enough that I actually wore my PFD for a change to be safer. We pulled over at our traditional lunch spot and find the higher water has rearranged a few things, as well as made the area smaller. We locate a favorite log we had used a few times last winter and 4 of us pick it up and carry it 50 feet to place on top of another log to make a nice bench in the shade, by our lunch line log and towel. I draped my PFD on the bench log as a seat cushion. BAD MOVE. So was not reapplying DEET ALL OVER. Where I grabbed the log, wrapping my arms around it, I have chigger bites to the wrists. Where I sat down - Y'all know where chiggers prefer to go to bite you, and they got me front to backaround each leg and the waistline. Where I actually for once wore my PFD as the water was cold, they got me from the shoulder blades down to the sides and around in front. And around my shoe line and between my toes even though I had rinsed the sand out of my shoes and off of my feet three times during lunch.....ARRGG.

I'm washing my PFD, swimtrunks, shirt, and river shoes several times in HOT water today, and applying Melaleuca oil everywhere I have spots as it is a disinfectant, that while stinky, seems to also help with the itching some. Works for our horses.

I have always been a proponent of wearing DEET, but I lapsed my summer vigilence by the cool waters.

REMEMBER - ONLY YOU CAN WEAR DEET. RE-APPLY IT AS NEEDED OR IF IN DOUBT. DEET WORKS!

AND NO, I will not take pictures of what it looks like. And yes I may eat lunch inside my boat next time or until it gets cold enough to freeze again.

Eric

Eric, there is one positive to your dilemma, now you have a legitimate excuse for a game of pocket pool.

The bad thing about chiggers is that the itch does not go away over night.
I have just one thing to say . . .
OUCH!

Sometimes I don't mind having two or three chigger bites 'cause there's nothng more satisfying than scratching them. Kind of a masochistic thing I think.

There is something I learned from an older lady back min 1995 when I retired from the Army and moved to southwest Missouri. We do also have the little nasty red bugs up north.

I had been ot fishing and had the Military bug spray with me and forgot to use it. I had chigger bites all over me like you said. If I scratched which is very hard not to do I Would be eventually bleed and had scabs. I ran into this older lady and she said she could stop the itching and cool down the bites instantly but would not recommend going out any where for at least 24 hours. She told me to go to Walmart and get Gold Bond Mecicated Powder. DO NOT GET THE GENERIC BUY GOLD BOND. So I did. She told me to take a shower and make sure I was dry. Then sprinkle the Gold Bond all over the bitten area. Put it on thick and do not rub it in. I was desperate and had to try something. I now keep a big container of Gold Bond at home just for these occasions. It works.

Sorry for oyur misery I know exactly how you are feeling.

Folks also used to say that you could dab some clear fingernail polish on the bites and it would help...also you could lather up the area where you're bitten with bar soap and allow the soap to dry for several minutes before rinsing...these with the premise that the little buggers were still in ya, and the topping would cause them to suffocate.

I went for about an 8-10 mile paddle to day with 5 others on Beaver lake. I didn't sit down any on land and kept walking around.

Eric

Everything you need to know about chiggers is here:

http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/arthopo/chiggers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note how temperature affects their activity (about halfway down the article).

Eric,

I know how it is to be covered in Chiggers In a sadistic kind of way,, I also feel the way Owl mentioned, when I just had one, or two, or three. See my comments on an earlier post;(ie; sitting in church with one gnawing on my little privates) or; Floating Info page 2 ,I think.
It doesn't really matter that they are the immature form of the Human Mite, they are a nuisance if a person doesn't kill all of them on their body shortly after they 'hitch on'. The trouble is that it's often too late when a person realizes, they have a band of them at the top of their socks where the elastic is, or their belt line, or their arm pits, and scattered everywhere else...I would sure class Chiggers with 'Seed Ticks' in their ability to thoroughly infest a body within a minute or two tops of blundering into them. (I always blundered) At least with Seed Ticks I could see the dark wave coming up my leg. There were times on the farm when I was infested in which I took a rag doused in tractor fuel to swab my legs and ankles back at the barn lot before stripping and heading into the house to bathe in a bath with a cup or two of laundry bleach mixed in to kill the escapees :)
One thing that has served me best in the time since is to be able to somewhat recognize those nice places I might like to sit or stand as' not good'. On the river, in the Summer, I'm always looking for a shady lunch spot, but will not choose any place that's not 100% washed gravel bar. In my experience, Chiggers just love shady, sandy, even slightly weedy or grassy areas, and really like even more greenery.

I heard a story once about a newly wed couple traveling the Ozarks on their Honeymoon when they decided to stop and be 'amorous' in the pasture beside the road. Also the report afterward of stopping at the doctors office in Harrison, or who knows where, to get relief from the unknown strange malady bothering them so terribly.


Best Regards
Jim Moose

That is a good article on chiggers and does change what i had learned growing up. I still believe in the Gold Bond Powder treatment and if i get chigger bites again i keep Gold Bond close by. It does sooth the itch.