Why Permethrin?...Mosquitos, Ticks and Flies…Oh My! ©

Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent 12 oz. pump-bottle, picture by the author

  

So, you are going out into the wilderness, or maybe you are going out into your own backyard.  In either case, there are bugs out there, lots of them!  And they bite!  Some carry diseases too. 

A Lonestar tick biting the author’s leg, picture by the author

So, what are you going to do? 

What you are going to do is treat your clothes with Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent.  Why you ask, well, here is why.

Full disclosure, I am friends with the chemist who invented, patented and marketed permethrin, before selling it to Sawyer.  In addition, I have used this brand of permethrin for four years, I have never had any sensitivity or other issues with it and it has done a great job of keeping the bugs off me.  I am very pleased with and enthusiastically recommend it.

  

Close up of the Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent 12 oz. pump-bottle, picture by the author

Permethrin is the synthetic version of pyrethrin which occurs naturally in chrysanthemum flowers (Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium and Chrysanthemum coccineum), it is a powerful, contact insecticide; it is not an insect repellent.  This is an important distinction since, unlike topical insect repellents that are applied to your skin; permethrin is not sprayed on your skin, it is sprayed on your clothing, tents, sleeping bags and other fabrics. 

Permethrin is effective against mosquitos, biting flies, ticks, fleas, chiggers, lice and more than 55 other types of insects.  When a mosquito or tick lands or crawls onto a fabric that has been treated with permethrin, it absorbs a dose of insecticide that will either kill it, or repel it.

Naturally, occurring pyrethrin breaks down quickly, in sunlight.  However, as Sawyer’s synthetic permethrin establishes a strong bond with most fabrics, it will be effective for six weeks or six washings, whichever comes first.  According to Sawyer, the U.S. Army performed studies and found that 20 to 30 percent of the permethrin was removed after the first laundering. Each laundering after that, removed about 3 to 5 percent of the permethrin treatment, through ten launderings.

If you have to wash your treated clothes, Sawyer recommends hand washing and air drying, because the agitation of the washing machine reduces the effectiveness of permethrin, by knocking loose the permethrin molecules from the fabric.  If you use a conventional washer and dryer, use a gentle wash setting and dryer cycle: loss in the dryer is less in comparison to the loss in the washer.  Also, do not dry clean treated garments, as dry cleaning will remove the permethrin from the fabric.  Store treated garments in dark plastic bags, between uses, as this will help to preserve the permethrin treatment.

Additionally, per Sawyer, sweating and exposure to water does not reduce the effectiveness of permethrin, and it resist degradation from the Sun and heat.

Unlike DEET, which may harm some fabrics and definitely will harm plastics, permethrin is an odorless, non-greasy, non-staining spray, which will not damage your clothes and equipment, and will not harm plastics.  According to Sawyer, permethrin is safe to use on synthetics, waterproof membrane fabrics, silk and if you use the pump spray version of Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent, it will not harm flame retardant clothes.  In addition, based on an email answer I received from Sawyer, if you need to apply a silicone, heavy-duty water repellent spray and permethrin to a garment, such as a wide brimmed hat, apply the waterproofing first and then spray on the permethrin, since permethrin needs to be exposed to be effective. 

First aid instructions from the side of the Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent 12 oz. pump-bottle, picture by the author

Some people have asked if Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent is safe to use.  Per Sawyer, in mammals, the skin poorly absorbs permethrin and if it is absorbed, the body rapidly metabolizes it.  Additionally, it has a low level of toxicity in mammals and animal studies have shown no skin irritation or sensitivity following direct application, except in cats.  Also, Sawyer’s web site noted a controlled study of 200 subjects; permethrin did not cause skin sensitivity or irritation.  However, do not expose cats to wet permethrin as it effects their central nervous system.  Once the permethrin on the clothes has dried, it is safe to have around cats.  Additionally, permethrin is harmful to aquatic creatures, so do not spray permethrin near aquariums or cats! 

Permethrin useful tips, picture by the author

Permethrin useful tips, picture by the author

Instructions from the side of the Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent 12 oz. pump-bottle, picture by the author

According to Sawyer, one 12 ounce pump-bottle of Sawyer® Permethrin Insect Repellent will treat two complete sets of clothing, consisting of one shirt, one pair of socks and one pair of pants.

To treat your clothes follow the instructions on the packaging, however in general the following applications rules apply.

·      While outdoors, in an area protected from the wind, spray.

Ø Hold the pump-bottle about six to eight inches away from the fabric to be treated.

Ø Spray each side of the clothing for about 30 seconds with a slow sweeping motion, just enough to moisten the fabric.

·      Allow the garments to dry for two hours or four hours if it is humid.

And that’s, that!  You are now protected from all of those nasty, crawly bugs.  Apply a little DEET or your favorite topical insect repellent to any exposed skin and you are good to go.

 For the complete video on “Why Permethrin?” see HERE or HERE.

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and my videos at BandanaMan Productions and don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.

Sources

Sawyer, “Permethrin Insect Repellent For Clothing Gear And Tents”, [Sawyer Products, Inc., 2019] https://sawyer.com/products/permethrin-insect-repellent-treatment/, accessed 7/18/19

Wikipedia Contributors, “Pyrethrum”, [Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia, June 10, 2019], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrum, accessed 7/18/19

Wikipedia Contributors, “Pyrethrin”, [Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia, June 2, 2019], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrin, accessed 7/25/19

And A Raven Came Calling…©

Minister Valley, Allegheny National Forest, Warren County, Pennsylvania, picture by the Author

Krrroooaaackkk!  It was a bright spring morning in Minister Valley, which is in Warren County, Pennsylvania, and is part of the Allegheny National Forest.  I was sitting at the mouth of a rock shelter, by a fire, boiling water for breakfast, when I heard Krrrroooaaackkk!

I said to myself, out loud, “that sounds like a raven!” a bird whose call I know well from my travels in Algonquin Park, Canada.  But, I knew that it couldn’t be a raven, because ravens were extinct in western Pennsylvania.  However, I knew what I’d heard.

So when I got back to Internet-land, I did some research, and here is what I found.

Unlike crows, whose range expanded due to human settlement and logging, ravens retreated as the forests shrank and the farms and cities grew, retreating until, in Pennsylvania, they only hung on in the wildest ridges of Allegheny and Appalachian Mountains.  Because of logging and settlement, ravens had almost vanished from Pennsylvania by the early 1900s and ornithologists thought that ravens would be extinct there by 1940.

However, ravens are adaptable and opportunistic birds, who have a greater worldwide range than any other bird, and somehow they managed to survive in the wildest parts of Pennsylvania’s central mountains.

Fast forward to today and the forests have regrown over large areas that were once farmland and the ravens have been leaving their mountain hideouts to return to places where they haven’t been seen for decades, such as Warren County, Pennsylvania.  Even though ravens have been slowly expanding their range, mountainous, wilderness areas are still where you will most likely meet ravens.  Today, in Pennsylvania, ravens are found mostly in the remote parts of the north-central counties of the Allegheny Plateau and south-central counties, of the Appalachian Mountains.

Distribution of the Common Raven in North and Central America, Fig. 1, by Boarman, W. I. and Heinrich, B., “Common Raven

Usually your first clue that a raven has come calling is its call.  Crows cannot “croak” they make a high-pitched “caw”, so if you hear a deep croaking call it is probably a raven.  Raven calls can be heard [HERE]

So, if you do hear a deep, croaking call, look up but how do you know if that black bird that you just heard is a raven or a crow? 

At an average of 20 to 25 inches in length, ravens are about 25% larger than crows, weighing on average 32 ounces and have a wingspan of four feet: crows have an average weight of 16 ounces.  In fact, crows are about the same size as a large hawk.  However, it is difficult to tell bird species apart by relative size, unless you can see both birds at the same time. 

The two most distinctive features that will help you distinguish between ravens and crows are; one, ravens have a thicker and heavier beak than crows, whose beaks by comparison are slim.  Also, the feathers on a raven’s throat are shaggy. 

Two, in flight, a raven’s tail has a distinct wedge shape and a crow’s tail is fan shaped.  When flying a raven has both a pointy-head and a pointy-tail.  Also, when flying, ravens keep their wings horizontal, while the wings of crows form a shallow vee.  In addition, ravens when flying, tend to soar long distances without flapping their wings, while crows rarely soar and must constantly flap their wings.

Adapted from “All About Birds: Similar Species: Crows and Ravens”

Lastly, ravens are usually found alone or at most in pairs, while the more gregarious crows are usually in groups of three or more, sometimes many more.

So, if you happen to be in the Pennsylvania wilderness and you hear a deep Krrroooaaackkk, look up perhaps a raven came calling…

Sources:

“All About Birds: Similar Species: Crows and Ravens”, Kevin McGowan, August 3, 2012, [Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY], https://www.allaboutbirds.org/similar-species-crows-and-ravens/, Accessed 3/21/19

“All About Birds: Common Raven” [Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY], https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Raven/sounds, Accessed 3/12/19

BirdNote, “Ravens and Crows - Who Is Who”, https://www.birdnote.org/show/ravens-and-crows-who-who, Accessed 3/20/19

BirdNote, “How to Tell a Raven From a Crow”, https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow, Accessed 3/20/19

Boarman, W. I. and Heinrich, B., “Common Raven (Corvus corax), version 2.0.” In The Birds of North America, (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). [Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, 1999], https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.476, Accessed 3/12/19

Fergus, Charles, Wildlife of Pennsylvania, [Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2000], https://books.google.com/books?id=hmeG4EBxVJYC&pg=PT328&lpg=PT328&dq=ravens+in+pennsylvania&source=bl&ots=8l4vOwxbf7&sig=ACfU3U17EuwJ_3H3bQBHXBDbYEg90fGDUg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJj_3C8PrgAhVjrlkKHZ7CA6Q4FBDoATAIegQIARAB#v=onepage&q=ravens%20in%20pennsylvania&f=false, Accessed 3/12/19

Moyer, Ben, “Ravens, Often Mistaken For Crows, Have Rebounded Following Decades Of Decline”, Special to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Feb 19, 2012 https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/hunting-fishing/2012/02/19/Ravens-often-mistaken-for-crows-have-rebounded-following-decades-of-decline/stories/201202190516, Accessed 3/12/19