kilts in the outdoors

[flairball]

I plan to wear my kilt in the outdoors, and was wondering about a couple of things that might be specific to their use outdoors. The first concerns bugs. Other than a liberal spraying of exposed body part with bug repellent, is there anything specific, or unique I need to know? Also, living in New England, I am exposed to ticks quite frequently. I would be interested in hearing some advice, and experiences (not horror stories) concerning ticks.


My other question is on the subject of kilts and water. Being as I will be outdoors so much my kilt is sooner or later going to get wet. Of course, with a wool kilt this won't affect warmth too much, but I'm wondering about the effect on pleating, and drying times, procedures, etc...

Thanks

[jjoseph]

We have bad ticks in central TX too and fleas in the spring if there's been rain. I haven't tried it out w/ kilts per se, but about 3 days before camping start taking vitamins B1 and C. They are water soluble (what you don't need gets peed and sweated out) and evidently they make you less appetizing. Brewers yeast which is also high in B-vitamins is good to sprinkle on your dog's food for the same reason; makes them less attractive to fleas. We've tried it and it seems to help.

[Graham]

I think the best advice would come from our honoured memebr Andrew Breecher, he has done more hiking kilted in all conditions than anyone else here.
Here is a discussion about it.

I would add my concern about spraying toxic chemicals onto the skin. They absorbed into the blood and may contribute to illness later in life.
I recommend searching for matural repellants.

The kilt is the ultimate outdoor garment imho, I hike a lot in Tasmania. The worst things we get here are leeches, poisonous spiders and snakes.
I find they all run a mile when they see a man in a kilt coming.

[GMan]

I think that being Kilted outdoors is just like be outdoors in other garments, just have to take the same precautions and adapt them to the Kilt. Yes hydration is important whether you are Kilted or not.

Have fun!!

[Sherry]

Avon makes a non-toxic mosquito repellent that works well in "everyday" situations. If you're going into deep woods, you may have to use the nasty deet stuff to keep the ticks off of you.

[Yaish]

Ticks almost always go 'up' when they attached to a person. With a kilt this means if you want to use a spray, spray the tops of your hose and the bottoms of the pleats.
Test for color fastness of course.

[The Wizard of BC]

A trick we used in Central Texas during my military flying days was dog flea collars.
tie one each under the fold-over of your socks or hose.

Do not use them directly on the skin. But they should do quite well as hose garters.

Another trick is Avon brand "Skin so soft" lotion. All natural and the wee crawlies seem to hate it.

Kinda strange though to see a bunch of soldiers with M-16's and skin lotion.

[Manu]

Indeed, Skin so soft will the trick. Thats what we use out here in the swampy area of Beautiful Beaufort. Either that or sunblock, thats what the DI's told us to use in bootcamp...kinda hard to shoot a rifle while you have hundreds of sand fleas chewing up your ear...

[cavscout]

Indeed, Skin so soft will the trick. Thats what we use out here in the swampy area of Beautiful Beaufort. Either that or sunblock, thats what the DI's told us to use in bootcamp...kinda hard to shoot a rifle while you have hundreds of sand fleas chewing up your ear...

Bug Juice! How I miss that smell

[Nick]

Urg... The first time I shot my muzzleloader while wearing my kilt I had neglected to put bug spray on my legs. Nothing worse than a UP mosquito (chickito), or a flock of them, going up the kilt just as you're about to pull the trigger