Ticks & Mosquitoes: How to Avoid Ticks When Camping and Remove Them Safely

Before you read on: prevention is a skill, diagnosis is a doctor's job

Ticks and biting insects are the most common wildlife encounter of any trip – far more common than anything with teeth. Most bites are harmless and merely annoying. A few are not: ticks can transmit infections such as Lyme disease (borreliosis) and, in some regions, tick-borne encephalitis (TBE); mosquitoes carry diseases in many parts of the world; and wasp stings are dangerous for people with an allergy.

Nearly everything that matters happens before a bite: where you walk and camp, what you wear, what you put on your skin and whether you look yourself over at night. That is ordinary camp craft, like checking the branches above your camp site or your fire site.

Where do ticks live – and do they fall from trees?

No, ticks do not fall or jump from trees. That is the most persistent tick myth, and it sends people looking in the wrong direction. Hard ticks – the kind that matter to hikers in Europe and North America – climb grass stems, bracken, herbs and low shrubs and wait there with their front legs stretched out. Biologists call this questing. When a warm body brushes past, the tick simply holds on. Then it walks, usually upwards, looking for thin, warm, slightly moist skin.

That has two practical consequences. First, the contact zone is low: mostly between your ankles and your hips, higher only when you sit down, crawl through brush or carry armfuls of bracken for shelter bedding. Second, there is a delay between the tick getting on and the tick biting – time in which light-coloured clothing, tucked-in trousers and an evening check can stop it.

Tick season and weather

Ticks need moisture and mild temperatures. In most of temperate Europe and North America the main season runs from spring to autumn, typically with a peak in late spring and early summer and often a second one in autumn. A figure of roughly 7 °C is often quoted as the temperature at which ticks become active; in mild winters they can be out in any month. Hot, dry spells push them down into the leaf litter, and a warm day after rain brings them back up.

For trip planning that means: do not switch off in October or on a mild February day, and expect the most ticks on warm, humid days in lush vegetation. If you learn to read the weather, you can also read tick weather.

Which stage bites?

Ticks go through larva, nymph and adult stages. The nymphs are the ones people overlook – they are about the size of a poppy seed and look like a speck of dirt or a new freckle. This is why the evening check is done with fingertips as well as eyes, and with a headlamp rather than by firelight.

How to avoid ticks when camping: clothing first

Clothing is the most reliable tick protection because it is a physical barrier and does not wear off. The principle is simple: make every opening face downwards into the next layer, like roof tiles, so a tick that climbs upwards stays on the outside where you can see it and brush it off.

• Long trousers in a tightly woven fabric, tucked into the socks or closed with gaiters. It looks odd and works.
• Light colours – beige, light grey, sand. A dark tick on light fabric is obvious; on black or olive trousers it is invisible.
• Long sleeves, shirt tucked into the trousers, cuffs closed when you work in brush.
• Closed shoes or boots, never sandals in long grass. See bushcraft footwear.
• A hat or cap, especially for children, whose heads are at grass and shrub height.

During the day: small habits

Brush your trouser legs off with a few strokes of the hand after every stretch of long grass and whenever you stop. Sit on a sit pad, a log or a rock instead of in leaf litter. Keep to the middle of paths. When you have been collecting bracken, grass or leaf litter, check your forearms and the front of your shirt straight away. And hang or stand your pack rather than laying it in the grass – ticks ride into the shelter on gear, too.

Repellents: DEET, icaridin, PMD and permethrin-treated clothing

Repellents do not kill insects; they make you harder to find or less attractive to land on. They are a useful second layer on top of clothing, not a replacement for it or for the evening check. Rather than brands, look at the active ingredient and at what the label promises: which animals (mosquitoes only, or ticks as well), for how long, and from what age.

How to apply repellent properly

• Apply thinly and evenly to all exposed skin – gaps are found. Do not apply under clothing.
• Keep it away from eyes, mouth, cuts and irritated skin. For the face: spray into your hands first, then spread.
• If you also use sunscreen, health authorities generally advise sunscreen first, repellent on top once it has soaked in.
• Reapply only as the label allows. Sweat, rain, swimming and rubbing shorten the protection time; protection against ticks is often shorter than against mosquitoes.
• Wash it off when you are back in the shelter for the night, and wash your hands before handling food.
• Keep repellents away from flames and stoves – many sprays are flammable – and away from water sources.

Permethrin-treated clothing

Permethrin is different from skin repellents: it is an insecticide for fabric, and ticks that walk across a treated trouser leg are affected by contact. Factory-treated trousers, socks and gaiters are sold in many countries, and some forestry and military clothing is treated as standard. In some places you can also buy treatment sprays for your own clothing; in others they are restricted. Follow the instructions exactly, treat outdoors, let garments dry completely before wearing, and keep wet-treated items away from cats and from any stream or pond. Treated clothing still needs the trousers-in-socks habit – and still needs the evening check.

Mosquito protection for camping: choose the site, close the mesh

With mosquitoes and midges, the camp site decides most of your evening. Mosquitoes breed in still water – ponds, bog pools, flooded ruts, water-filled stumps – and they are weak fliers that avoid wind and bright, dry heat. Midges, the tiny biting flies of Scotland, Scandinavia and many northern and mountain regions, are even more sensitive to a breeze. So the best mosquito protection when camping costs nothing: sleep where the air moves.

A breezy, raised site fits well with the other rules of choosing a camp site – off the valley floor where cold air pools, away from the water's edge – but it has to be balanced against wind chill and storm exposure in bad weather. Where you may camp at all is a legal question that varies by country and region: see wild camping rules.

Timing: dusk is rush hour

Most mosquito species bite hardest around dusk and again at dawn, midges in calm, damp, overcast conditions and at the ends of the day. Plan the evening around it: cook and wash up early, have water collected and firewood cut, and be in long sleeves – or behind mesh – before the light goes. The daylight calculator tells you when that is. A sensible camp layout with the kitchen a few steps from the sleeping place also keeps food smells and wasps away from your bed.

Mesh: the only complete protection

• Tent: keep the mesh door zipped at all times, not only at night. Get in quickly, then deal with the few that followed you.
• Tarp: add a mesh inner or a hanging bug net with a floor or a skirt that tucks under your mat. A net that hangs open at the ground lets in mosquitoes – and ticks. Setups: tarp shelter pitches, choosing one: tarp guide.
• Hammock: use an integrated or wrap-around bug net, and remember that mosquitoes bite through thin fabric from below – an underquilt or pad stops that. More in hammock camping.
• Bivvy bag: choose a model with a mesh panel over the face, or combine it with a head net and a hat brim to hold the mesh off your skin (bivouac guide).
• Midge country: ordinary mosquito netting is too coarse for midges – look for mesh sold as midge-proof or "no-see-um".

Head net and smoke

A head net weighs next to nothing and turns an unbearable evening into a tolerable one; worn over a brimmed hat it stays off the face. Add thin gloves and long sleeves and you can cook in peace.

Smoke is a weak aid. Sitting slightly downwind of a small fire does thin out mosquitoes a little, but it does not protect you a few metres away, it does nothing against ticks, and nobody should breathe thick smoke for hours. Never light fires, coils or candles inside a tent or closed shelter – fire and carbon monoxide are a far bigger risk than bites – and respect fire bans (campfire safety). Empty standing water around camp, and keep stored rainwater covered (collecting rainwater).

The daily tick check: where and how to look

The evening check is the single most valuable habit in tick country. Ticks often wander for a while before they attach, and an attached tick that is found the same evening has had far less time than one discovered three days later at home. Make it a fixed part of the camp routine, like hanging the food or banking the fire: before you get into the sleeping bag, every day you have been in vegetation, in every season with mild weather.

What it should look and feel like

An unfed tick is flat, dark and firmly anchored: when you brush over it with a fingertip it feels like a tiny scab that does not rub off. Nymphs look like a new dark freckle with legs when you get the light close. A mole does not have legs and was there yesterday; when in doubt, use the magnifier on a tick card or the phone camera on zoom.

Back home

Check again under the shower – ticks that have not attached may wash or rub off, and you see everything. Day clothes can carry ticks into the house; health authorities such as the CDC advise a hot tumble-dryer cycle, where the fabric allows it, because dry heat is what ticks tolerate least. Look over the pack, the tarp and the dog's blanket as well.

How to remove a tick step by step

Found one attached? No panic, but no delay either: remove it now, with a tool, rather than waiting until you are home. Health authorities agree on the core of the method – grip as close to the skin as possible, pull slowly and evenly, do not squeeze the body, do not put anything on the tick first.

Troubleshooting

• A small dark piece stays in the skin: these are usually parts of the mouthparts. Do not dig around with a needle or knife. Clean the spot, leave it alone and keep watching it; if it becomes inflamed or you are unsure, ask a doctor or pharmacist.
• You cannot reach it (back, scalp): ask your partner, or use the phone camera and a loop or card tool. If you cannot remove it properly, get help at a pharmacy or surgery rather than leaving it in.
• The tick is very small: use pointed tweezers and a magnifier; cards are often too coarse for larvae.
• No tool at all: this is why a tick card belongs in the wallet. Improvising with fingernails is a last resort and usually ends with a squeezed tick.
• Many ticks or a hard-to-reach place on a child: stay calm, remove what you can properly and have the rest done by a doctor.

Bitten – what now? When to see a doctor

What is normal, what is not

A small red, sometimes itchy bump right at the bite that appears straight away and fades within a few days is a common local reaction, much like a mosquito bite. What you are watching for is different: a red patch or ring that appears later and grows larger over days. Doctors call this erythema migrans; it is the typical early sign of Lyme disease, although not everyone who is infected develops it. Draw round a suspicious patch with a pen or photograph it next to a coin every day, so you and the doctor can see whether it is spreading.

The second warning sign is feeling ill in the weeks after a bite: fever, flu-like aches, headache, marked tiredness. In summer, without a cold going round, that is a reason to see a doctor and to say clearly: "I had a tick bite on this date, in this region." Anything further – whether tests or treatment are needed – is a medical decision and not something to work out from an article or a forum.

Lyme disease and TBE in general terms

Lyme disease (borreliosis) is caused by bacteria and occurs across the temperate northern hemisphere – in Europe, North America and parts of Asia. It is treated by doctors; there is nothing to self-treat. Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is caused by a virus and occurs in defined risk areas in parts of central, eastern and northern Europe and Asia. A vaccination against TBE exists and is recommended by national health authorities for people who are exposed to ticks in risk areas; it protects against TBE only, not against Lyme disease. North America has a number of other regional tick-borne illnesses.

Because risk areas shift from year to year, do not rely on old maps or on this page. Check before the season: the CDC for the USA, the NHS and UKHSA for the UK, the ECDC for European overviews, and for Germany the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), which publishes the current TBE risk areas, together with the vaccination recommendations of the national immunisation committee (STIKO). Then ask your doctor what applies to you.

Wasps, hornets, horseflies, midges and hairy caterpillars

Ticks and mosquitoes get the attention, but a camp has other regulars. None of them needs special gear – only a few habits.

Wasps and hornets at camp

Wasps come for the food, not for you. Keep the kitchen tidy, put lids on pots, seal rubbish and store food closed (food storage at camp). Sweet drinks are the classic accident: a wasp crawls into a can or bottle and is swallowed with the next sip. Pour into a mug, look before you drink, and give children cups with lids. If a wasp lands on you, stay still or brush it away slowly; flapping and blowing make it defensive. Check the ground and nearby logs for a nest entrance before you pitch – a steady stream of wasps to one hole means: camp elsewhere.

Oak processionary and other hairy caterpillars

In parts of Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and southern England, the caterpillars of the oak processionary moth carry fine irritating hairs that can cause itchy rashes, eye irritation and breathing problems. The hairs break off, drift on the wind and stay active in old nests and on the ground beneath for a long time. The rules are simple: keep away from marked trees, do not touch caterpillars or the web-like nests on oak trunks and branches, do not collect firewood or pitch a tarp beneath them, and keep children and dogs out. After suspected contact, change and wash your clothes, shower and wash your hair; see a doctor if symptoms appear, and treat breathing difficulty as an emergency. The pine processionary of southern Europe calls for the same caution.

Bite and sting care basics

• Do not scratch. Scratched bites are how small problems become infected ones. Keep nails short on long trips.
• Cool it: a cloth soaked in cold water takes the heat out of bites and stings.
• Bee sting: the stinger stays in – remove it quickly, by scraping or lifting it out, then cool.
• Keep it clean: wash with clean water and soap; cover scratched-open bites with a plaster.
• Remedies: if you want a soothing gel or tablets in the kit, ask a pharmacist and follow the leaflet.
• See a doctor if redness and swelling keep spreading after a day or two, if red streaks, pus or fever appear, or after a sting near the eye.

What goes in the kit against ticks and insects?

Very little, and none of it heavy. Most of it already belongs in the first aid kit; the rest is clothing you would wear anyway. Add the items to your kit list or let the Kit Builder do the weighing.

Ticks on dogs

Dogs run exactly where the ticks wait and bring them into the tent. Check your dog after every walk and before it comes into the sleeping area, remove ticks with a hook made for the purpose, and talk to your vet about suitable tick protection and about tick-borne diseases of dogs in the region you are visiting. Two cautions: never use human repellents on animals or animal products on people, and remember that permethrin products for dogs or clothing are dangerous to cats.

With children or a group, make the check a fixed, unembarrassing routine – "teeth, tick check, sleeping bag". The wider habits of a safe trip are in the bushcraft basics guide.