- Pants should always be tucked into socks.
- Wear light-colored clothing so that ticks are easier to see before they get onto your skin.
- Wear something like boxer briefs where there is tight elastic on both the wasteband and thighs.
- If you get a tick in a certain park, never go back to that park. The distribution of ticks is highly uneven, so this is surprisingly effective.
- Always check yourself in the mirror as soon as you get home, and then immediately take a shower and make sure you check every square inch of your body.
- Any clothes you wore into the woods should either go into the laundry, or else be stored in a sealed container so that any ticks on your clothing can't start running around your bedroom.
Tickborne illnesses are extremely serious, difficult or impossible to diagnose, and often deadly. But if you always follow these basic steps then you can eliminate the vast majority of the risk.
Scientists used to believe that it took 24 hours after getting bitten to transmit tickborne illnesses, but this is no longer the case. When in doubt just do the 21 days of doxycycline, although obviously this isn't something you ever want to have to do. (Some tickborne illnesses aren't treatable with doxycycline, but this is a good starting point absent other specific symptoms.)